The Foreign Fruit
by Tyranno's girl
Summary: Walking the streets of this dark, lonely world, I have seen more than my share of strange of things... You might think I'm someone special. But, I'm just... a simple Fruit-Merchant, that's all. Oh, watch your step. Blood makes such a mess, doesn't it?
1. House Spirit 1

**A/N: And here I go with another story. Sigh. Actually, I'm not sure if I will continue this. I just wanted to write something new to work on using the scene by scene style I used in my latest 'Akatsuki Horror Series' story ('Duke Hoshigaki's Madness') so I was looking through my documents when it hit me. **

**One of my most loved animes uses the scene by scene style beautifully, why can't I do something with that? Said anime is called 'Mononoke' (not like the Miyazaki movie) and it's a **_**beautiful**_** 12 episode (I think that number of episodes was an injustice) anime that I recommend wholeheartedly to anyone and everyone. **

**The main character in this fic is Kisame, but he will be going by the name 'Mr. Fruit-Merchant' until further notice. **

**Kisame- You're taking my name? **

**TG- Hey, in Mononoke the main-character's only given name is 'Mr. Medicine-Seller', deal with it!**

**Kisame- Why couldn't Sasori do this? His Japanese VA actually voices Medicine-Seller in the anime. **

**TG- Because I said so, now go study your script. **

**Like I said, I don't know if I'll continue this, but I just wanted to write something new. Please let me hear your thoughts! **

**Disclaimer- Tyranno's girl Productions does not own 'Naruto' or 'Mononoke', just her thoughts and a laptop.**

* * *

><p>Edo, most populated city in the land of the rising sun, Japan, back when its borders ad ports were still closed off to the rest of the world. It was currently raining, people rushing here and there to get out of the freezing waters.<p>

All except for one man.

He stood, taller than most of the men in the city, with a broad stature; thick muscles hidden under his vibrantly colored robes. His head was currently hidden by the umbrella he was carrying, its persimmon design intricate, beautiful. But despite not being able to see his eyes, he seemed to be looking at the building near the center of town.

An inn. Covered in paintings of small dolls.

He slowly walked forward.

* * *

><p>Inside the inn, at the check in counter, a young man sat smoking a pipe. His long hair was gray, tied behind him in a pony-tail, and dark, condescending eyes were hidden behind round, thin glasses. He was barely watching all the drunken commotion going on in the lobby of the inn, but after a moment he noticed a presence at the door. He quietly turned, the door opening to allow him a look at the newcomer.<p>

His skin was pale, but his messy hair was a deep, cobalt blue that was partially hidden by a bandana of sorts. He carried a large case on his back that seemed to have many different compartments in it, each drawer and door decorated with a colorful engraving of some sort of fruit.

The grey-haired young man smirked before calling out, "Mr. Fruit-Merchant, we don't want any." The Fruit-Merchant seemed to be muttering something that was just beyond the sense of human hearing. "You'll scare off the customers, standing there like that." Inside the lobby, the owner of the inn, an elder man with long, charcoal hair, paper-pale skin, and the golden eyes of a snake, sat. He was about to pour himself a cup of sake when he heard the conversation at the door. "I'll have to ask you to leave." For a moment, quiet. But then the Fruit-Merchant spoke, in a deep, sensual voice that spoke of the sins of paradise,

"No, no. You misunderstand…" He lifted the umbrella a bit, revealing a strong chin, "I'd like a room for the night…" The umbrella moved up more, showing more of the figure's strong, handsome face. By this point in time, both the clerk and the innkeeper's attention had been grabbed. Finally, the umbrella was high enough so that the Fruit-Merchant's face could be seen completely: his cobalt hair nearly hiding his predatory black eyes that were surrounded by black make-up; almost giving the appearance of gills. "Yes… Please."

"Oh my…" Both the clerk and the innkeeper muttered, blushes growing on their faces.

* * *

><p>Outside of Edo, on a wooden bridge that led to the center of the city, a young figure sat crouched down on the ground. They had a strange charm tied to their arm, it looked like a little person with a Yin and Yang symbol as a face. The figure rubbed their large stomach before whispering, the majority of their face hidden by their large orange umbrella (to match their kimono), "It's really cold tonight, isn't it?"<p>

_Rub. Caress. Rub._

"I'm sorry."

_Rub. Caress. Rub._

* * *

><p>The innkeeper, a man by the name of Orochimaru, smirked as he sat at a private table, examining the blue-haired Fruit-Merchant's wares, "But it's bitter, isn't it?" He was talking about a group of black berries that he had picked up, the Fruit-Merchant chuckling,<p>

"Well, it _is_ from China."

"Hm…" Orochimaru hummed, "Do you have anything else?" The Fruit-Merchant seemed to ignore him, looking around before he asked,

"Sir, do you own this inn?"

"Yes indeed," The snake-like man smiled, "I've had this place ever since I was young."

* * *

><p>Outside the inn doors, the figure in the orange kimono had made it to the inn.<p>

"What was it…" The Fruit-Merchant's voice asked, "Before you made it into an inn?" The figure, who had a bit of blonde hair peeking out from underneath their hair scarf, looked down and saw what seemed to be a yellow porcelain doll standing there.

* * *

><p>"What was it?" Orochimaru hummed, "I can't remember. Guess old age is setting in." He laughed as he looked at the red berries the Fruit-Merchant had. The bluenette hummed, slowly looking over towards the door before a young voice asked,<p>

"Excuse me!" The clerk, Kabuto, raised an eyebrow as the orange-clad figure walked in, asking, "Please, do you have a room for the night?" They were dripping wet, but Kabuto huffed,

"Sorry, we're full up. Go look somewhere else."

"You're the only ones open!" The blonde insisted, Kabuto retorting,

"There are no vacancies—"

"Money isn't an issue!" The young blonde begged, "You can even have my umbrella!" As the bickering went on, the Fruit-Merchant hummed,

"Could it be..?"

"That's right," Orochimaru chuckled, "You took the _last_ vacancy… Oh, this looks good." He reached for a soft, firm peach just as the blonde cried out,

"Please!" They panted for a moment before calmly stating, "Actually…"

* * *

><p>"I'm being chased…" Outside of Edo, a rough-looking character with a dog-decorated umbrella stood; having a vicious wolf-like creature sniff the area, especially the charm that had been abandoned. "If they find me… I'll be killed for sure!"<p>

* * *

><p>"Oh, that's <em>quite<em> the story!" Kabuto whistled. Then, the blonde reached up and undid their scarf, allowing soft spikes of golden blonde hair to fall. His eyes were a beautiful sky blue and he had three peculiar scars, like whiskers, on each cheek.

"It's the truth." He stated. Kabuto stared at him for a bit before sighing,

"Well, it _is_ raining… And usually we wouldn't turn away such a fine, young beauty—" The blonde choked, burying his nose into his scarf, whispering,

"It stinks…"

* * *

><p>"That's a western favorite," The Fruit-Merchant explained as Orochimaru picked up a shiny green apple. But Orochimaru was frowning as he listened to the commotion at the front desk.<p>

The blonde had kneeled down to the floor, rubbing at his swollen stomach. "If I stand out in the rain anymore…"

_Rub. Caress. Rub._

"My child will surely die."

"What?" Kabuto screamed, jumping back nearly two feet, "You're pregnant? I thought you were just fat!"

"Kabuto, I can't believe you!" Orochimaru hissed, walking away from his purchases and towards the desk, all the _female_ workers of the inn watching the scene. "Why haven't you kicked him out yet?" He gave a pointed look at the young blonde before speaking, "We don't want any trouble. Get out of here!" The blonde narrowed his eyes before whispering, gently, menacingly,

"If I do…"

"Eh?"

"If I do leave this place," The blonde began again before pointing towards the door, "Come morning, the corpse of me and my unborn child will be littered in front of your establishment." Blue eyes glared at the innkeeper. "Wouldn't _that_ get you in a world of trouble?"

"I don't take kindly to threats, young man." Orochimaru hissed, the blonde screaming back,

"This isn't a threat!" He wrapped his arms around his stomach, as much as he could in his condition, whimpering, "I just want to raise a healthy baby! If I stay outside, I can't protect him!" The blonde's begging was getting a lot of negative attention so, finally, Orochimaru walked over to Kabuto and whispered into his ear,

"Take him _upstairs_—"

"WHAT?" Kabuto screamed, "You can't possibly mean _that_ room!" The blonde looked up, tears in his eyes that were slowly abating at the aspect of getting a room. Orochimaru huffed,

"It can't be helped. I'll take him up and you get a bed ready."

"Thank you!" The young blonde bowed, "A million thank you's!"

* * *

><p>Later on that evening, Kabuto was busy locking up the inn for the night. "There we go." He latched up the heavy lock to the main door before turning and sighing, "He would have been better off staying in <em>my<em> room."

He turned off all the gas-lamps and went upstairs.

When he was gone, three more of those clay dolls appeared on the front-desk.

* * *

><p>The red-painted stairs that led upstairs creaked and groaned as Orochimaru led the blonde up, "This room is usually a secret to everyone, so don't go blabbing about it!"<p>

"Yes sir…" The blonde nodded, covering his face in his scarf when he smelled the smell from earlier again.

"Just try not to make any trouble."

"Yes sir." They walked for a few more minutes before the blonde muttered, "Sir?"

"Hm?"

"I don't care what it is… But we'd _really_ like something to eat." As he spoke, they passed another clay doll; this one dressed in green.

Then another dressed in blue.

They walked and walked, up the winding stairs. The sound of a laughing child running down the halls could be heard—

"Hm? What's this?" Orochimaru wondered aloud as he noticed slips of holy paper that had been plastered to the hallway walls. "Who did this—Oh well, Kabuto will take care of it in the morning." He began to walk up the stairs again, explaining, "I couldn't make more than a bit of rice."

"That's fine…" The blonde nodded, covering his face as they passed a pile of the clay dolls. He had to stop, however, when the laughter of children thundered in his ears; loud steps and jumps.

And, all at once, it was gone.

"What are you doing?" Orochimaru hissed, the blonde smiling,

"They're up awfully late," Before he stroked his stomach, "You'll be able to eat all you want soon…"

_Rub. Caress. Rub. _

* * *

><p>"You really want this child, don't you?" The dark-haired man asked as they crossed a small bridge that crossed a small man-made pond.<p>

"Yes!" The blonde nodded.

* * *

><p>"I'm obviously not privy to all the details," Orochimaru asked as they walked down a new hall, "But can you <em>really<em> raise it on your own?"

"I intend to."

* * *

><p>"Well, at least you're young." The older man hummed as they passed through the upper lobby where, coincidentally, the Fruit-Merchant was sitting with a cup of tea. "Seems a bit naïve though. You don't even have a steady supply of food!"<p>

The bluenette in the room discretely placed a slip of holy paper on the wall behind his chair, the paper glowing for a bit before fading.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure that you're not giving birth out of spite?" Orochimaru asked as they stopped at another staircase.<p>

A loud shrieking, like that of a child, could be heard just beyond the plane of human ears.

"I…" The blonde whimpered, kneeling down to catch his breath. "I want him to live."

* * *

><p>The doors slid open, revealing an elegant room: the walls painted with the images of beautiful figures and animals. The blonde gasped at the room's beauty, carefully avoiding the table in the center. "Such a strong-willed person…" Orochimaru stated, "Almost to a fault."<p>

"Sir?"

"I could never do anything as irresponsible as that…" The snake-like man hummed as he started a fire in the fireplace.

* * *

><p>The Fruit-Merchant slowly walked down the halls until he quickly turned, hearing the laughter and cries of children; their feet padding down the halls. The sound seemed to clash with the noise of raucous partying and feasting.<p>

* * *

><p>The blonde male lay down on the ground, smiling, "So warm…" As he wrapped his arms around himself.<p>

"Your bed will be here soon." Orochimaru stated as he walked to the door, "Oh, that's right. You need food too." The older man left before the blonde could offer a sleepy thank you, drifting off into sleep.

Abruptly, there was the sound of something falling. He opened his eyes to see a clay doll dressed in yellow lying on its side on the floor. "A doll?" He asked.

* * *

><p>Raspy breathing could be heard as something walked up the stairs, following a peculiar scent.<p>

* * *

><p>"Mr. Fruit-Merchant," Orochimaru asked as he saw the bluenette sitting on the hallway couch, "What are you doing there?"<p>

"I was heading to the lavatory," He replied, "I guess I got a little lost."

"Oh, it's at the end of the hall."

Quiet.

"Thank you." The bluenette replied, his eyes looking at the ceiling, "Are there any rooms above here?"

"Preposterous!" Orochimaru laughed, "It's just a storeroom! But oh, that reminds me! I should pay for that fruit!"

"No…" The Fruit-Merchant shook his head, standing to his feet, "Tomorrow will be fine. Good night to you." With that, he walked down the hall.

* * *

><p>"Oh no…" The blonde whispered, rubbing his wrist in anxiety, "Where did my charm go?" He was holding the doll in his hand, it somehow made him feel safer, but his missing charm was scaring him. "How could I—"<p>

"You give that back!" He flinched as he saw the source of the tiny voice. It… _looked_ like a toddler. If not for its weird-shaped head and its yellow coloring. It also didn't have any clothes except for the red bit of fabric tied to its neck, leading towards the blonde. The young male blinked, looking towards the still closed door.

"Where did you—"

"Give it back!" The blonde blinked again.

"Give it back!" The blonde was quiet.

"Give it back!" Finally, the blonde noticed the doll in his hand.

"Is it yours?" The toddler nodded,

"Yup."

"I'm sorry. Here." The toddler placed his hands on it, the blonde smiling, "There. My name is Naruto, what's yours?" The toddler's eyes narrowed, looking towards the door that had slowly opened; a raspy sniffing noise coming from it.

"Hey, are you pregnant?" It asked, Naruto smiling,

"Yes. It should be no more than three months now…", he rubbed his stomach just for good measure as he spoke. However, if you looked inside the room, it seemed like the blonde…

Was talking to himself.

"Hey, let's go over there." The toddler pointed to the other side of the room, Naruto shaking his head,

"No, it's late. You should get back to your own—"

The toddler was gone. "What the..?" Naruto looked around, only to find that the doll was back on the table. He shivered, "So cold…"

The door had been closed.

* * *

><p>Later on, after his bed had been delivered, Naruto laid slumbering by the fireplace; his body more than appreciating the warmth.<p>

The door quietly slid open, a raspy breathing soon being heard from behind Naruto's sleeping body. A foul smell caused Naruto's nose to twitch, rousing him from sleep. His eyes shot open when he noticed the door was open. Though he was terrified, he whispered, "I'm not going home… Leave me alone!"

A man with shocking silver hair stood above the blonde, dressed in the dark attire of a ninja with a katana at his side.

"Do not give birth to this child…" He whispered, "If it ever came back for its birthright, the master and mistress would be in quite a bind."

"I've cut myself off from the young master!" Naruto whimpered, the ninja chuckling,

"That little fool doesn't concern me," He then unsheathed his sword, resting it against his neck; causing the blonde to shiver.

Neither noticed that the doll started to shiver as well.

"I just want to give birth!" Naruto yelled, "That's all!"

The doll fell to its side, distracting both parties.

The ninja was distracted for a bit, but he noticed when Naruto tried to crawl away and threw two kunai: both pinning to the wall besides Naruto's head, stunning the young male.

"I can't return home empty-handed, not after coming all this way."

"Don't kill us!" Naruto screamed, turning around with tears falling from his eyes as he covered his stomach with his arms, "Please! Please!"

"Ready to die?"

"Think of my baby!" Naruto sobbed,

"Your time is over!" The ninja roared, surging forward with his sword.

"PLEASE THINK OF MY BABY!" Naruto screamed, his voice echoing through the room and out into the hall.

A sickening crack filled the air. Naruto didn't see, still trying to defend himself and his unborn child, but the ninja had been forcefully turned around. Once…

Twice…

Three times.

A few of his bones broke from the force, his eyes wide and his chest heaving as he was pulled towards the ceiling. The blonde flinched when he heard the sword fall to the floor, but he slowly turned around.

The ninja was gone. Blue eyes were wide as they looked around for the man, not seeing hind nor hair of him. But he jerked when he heard another crack from the ceiling. He looked up, screaming in horror at what he saw.

* * *

><p>In the inn, all of the holy scrolls that had been scattered about became covered in blue symbols of protection. The Fruit-Merchant was strolling down the hall when he saw them all activate. He smiled before turning and stating, "There it is."<p>

* * *

><p>The silver-haired ninja was howling in agony as he was spun around the ceiling by only his head and neck, the weight of his body creating a wretched, pulling pain. His screams echoed throughout the inn until, with a loud crack, they were abruptly halted.<p>

Naruto had passed out in the room, lying near the fireplace, but the blue-haired Fruit-Merchant was standing on the table; examining the space.

"What the hell is going on up here?" Orochimaru's voice yelled as he rushed in from one side, Kabuto rushing in from another; the inn clerk screaming as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Just what _is_ this?" The bluenette asked himself as he looked around, Orochimaru screaming,

"Did _you_ do this?" All the yelling had caused Naruto to rouse from sleep, wiping his sleepy blue eyes. Kabuto was still screaming,

"It's all because _you _let him stay in here!"

"Did it protect him?" The Fruit-Merchant asked before smiling, razor-sharp teeth visible, "But why?"

"Kabuto!" Orochimaru hissed, "Go to the castle and get the authorities!"

"That won't be necessary." The bluenette shook his head, Orochimaru snapping back,

"Of course it's necessary! Only a criminal would object to getting the authorities involved—"

"He didn't do it!" That cry came from Naruto, the blonde trying to get to his feet. "I saw it… He wasn't the culprit."

"Oh?" The Fruit-Merchant hummed, getting a close look at the blonde, "What then, did you see?" Naruto flinched, eyes looking around before he whispered,

"It took him and pulled him up… Then they spun _around_ and _around_ and _around_ and _around_."

"Oh?" The bluenette smiled, "_Around_ and _around_ and _around_ and _around_?" The room was quiet after the testimony, but then Orochimaru had to ask,

"Fruit-Merchant? Just _who_ are you? What are you doing in here anyways?"

"The culprit here was not human," The Fruit-Merchant stated, ignoring the innkeeper's question. There was a clicking sound from the bluenette's case before a cabinet opened, revealing a long, crushed blue velvet box. It slowly opened up on its own, revealing a sword resting in a golden scabbard which was decorated with diamonds and sapphires. It was covered in pure, sacred bandages.

"Why in the hell would a _Fruit-Merchant_ be carrying such a ridiculous blade?" Orochimaru yelled with nothing but confusion in his voice.

"Simple." The Fruit-Merchant smiled, "I came to kill."

"Kill what?" Kabuto yelped, the larger man chuckling,

* * *

><p>"The demon here, of course."<p>

* * *

><p>Looking up at the ceiling, he muttered, "<em>Something<em> must have killed him." But the charcoal-haired innkeeper snapped,

"Don't be stupid!"

"But as we can all see…" The bluenette insisted. Everyone looked up, Kabuto not noticing the wall behind him suddenly covered in red fabric, to look at the body of the silver-haired ninja. His torso, arms, and legs were now hanging from the ceiling lantern, like a morbid decoration. "He was obviously killed. Could any _man_ do this?"

"Of course—"

"Not." The bluenette completed Kabuto's sentence for him. Orochimaru would never admit it, but he was shivering. Until he heard Naruto whisper,

"There there…" _Rub. Caress. Rub._ "It's okay…" The innkeeper jerked when he saw the clay doll on the table, yelling,

"Where did _that thing_ come from?" Naruto tilted his head, replying,

"It's been here since the beginning." The walls behind Orochimaru turned red for a moment before Naruto added, "A child came to get it."

"A _child_?" Orochimaru and Kabuto asked, Naruto nodding,

"Mm! Surely there are some here."

"What nonsense are you speaking?" As Orochimaru denied the claim, the Fruit-Merchant looked at the table. Every few seconds, a drop of pinkish-colored water would drip down from the ceiling to the center of the table. "I don't allow children into this inn!"

"But…" Naruto gulped, carefully looking around, "Surely someone must have-! The voices! And the footsteps!" The blonde stopped as he heard laughter from outside the room, "There!" Then the sound of bouncing balls and footsteps from the other side, "And there! A group of children are playing out there!"

"What is he talking about?" Kabuto whispered, he and Orochimaru not hearing anything. Naruto looked up, speaking,

"They're playing above us as well."

"Fool," Orochimaru shook his head, "This is the top floor!" But Naruto wasn't listening, his eyes had keyed in on one factor of the ceiling.

"The body… It's—"

"Gone." The Fruit-Merchant nodded. In Naruto's ears, the laughter and cries of children got louder, the blonde pointing to the left side of the room,

"They're coming from there!", then the right side, "And over there!" The areas of the room where Orochimaru and Kabuto were started shaking, the blue-haired merchant reaching into his sleeves and pulling out more holy scrolls that floated in a circle around him.

"That's as far as you'll come!" He called out, sending the scrolls flying to the walls; forming a border around the area where Naruto was sitting. As soon as they all set, the scrolls all glowed in those blue protective symbols.

The walls of the room that weren't covered by the scrolls were soon covered in red strips of fabric. When the fabric touched the scrolls, they recoiled; the cries of infants in pain ripping through the air before they vanished entirely.

Orochimaru and Kabuto screamed.

The Fruit-Merchant quietly knelt down, inspecting the watery substance that kept dripping down from the ceiling. "There is a demon bound to this inn." He rubbed his finger into it, finding it sticky and watery at the same time, "Children, the cries of babies, and…" He sniffed his finger, "Birth water? Yes… This is a Zashikiwarashi, a house spirit."

The sword in the case purred.

"Certain conditions must be met for me and my sword to be able to perform an exorcism." The Fruit-Merchant explained, standing to his feet, "We must find the Form, the Truth, and the Regret of this being. Otherwise, it will not leave."

Kabuto looked like he was about to piss himself out of fear, and Orochimaru shook his head, not wanting to hear any of what the blue-haired man was saying, "The fates and decisions of men give demons and spirits their Forms. Truth is the natural state of all things. And regret is something that we all have in our hearts." Naruto shivered at that, holding his stomach tighter. "And so, my friends!" The Fruit-Merchant announced, holding up his arm. The sword in the case floated up, the bandages falling from it before it rushed into the bluenette's hand. "I would ask you this evening to tell me…

The truth and regret of this creature!"

* * *

><p>On the staircase, a group of men all sharing the same appearance stood laughing.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **

**Thanks for reading! Tell me what you think? Please?**

**-Tyranno's girl. **


	2. House Spirit 2

_The intertwined fates of men give demons and spirits their forms… _

_Enter the boy, protecting his child… _

_Enter the innkeeper, who gives the boy shelter for the night… _

_Enter the assassin who seeks the boy… _

_All underneath the same roof. _

_A lively cast, set amongst the bustle and clatter of drink and cup, _

_Along the sounds of children's voices… _

_Though the voices were clear to some, the only child present was that in the boy's womb… _

_This spirit is definitely a Zashikiwarashi, a house spirit._

* * *

><p>"But where…" The Fruit-Merchant hummed as he wrote down the lines in a book, "Are the truth and regret?"<p>

* * *

><p>The blue-haired man rested his sword against his cheek as he muttered, "There is something within this establishment." Naruto was rubbing his stomach when he had a vicious sting of pain,<p>

"Itai! I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" _Rub. Caress. Rub._ "I'll protect you…"

"This pregnant child," The Fruit-Merchant asked, "Does this bring back any memories?"

The yellow-clad doll was still on the table.

"There there… I'm sorry…" Naruto whispered as the pain stopped. But he had heard what the Fruit-Merchant had asked. He sighed before beginning, "His name was Kakashi, an assassin."

"Why was he here?"

"To kill me and my unborn child."

"You were serious about that?" Kabuto shrieked. The Fruit-Merchant asked again,

"Who sent him?" Naruto answering,

"My master and mistress."

"Why?"

"Because…" Naruto frowned, placing a hand on his stomach, "its father… Is their heir."

"An unallowable—"

"Relationship." Naruto finished, but then his face grew into a furious frown as he yelled, "But they _did_ allow it!"

"Oh boy…" Kabuto sighed, picking at his nails. Orochimaru shook his head in disgust,

"Dear gods…"

"Then they just up and said that it was forbidden! That it couldn't be!"

"Idiot…"

"I didn't _want_ their property—"

"Stupid boy…"

"I promised the young master—!"

"So naïve…"

"I just wanted to give birth!" Naruto gasped, clutching at his stomach, "That's all!"

The room shook again. But afterwards, Orochimaru stormed towards the door, hissing, "Gods, you're so _annoying_! I don't care if it's a demon or a ghost or whatever!" He carefully tapped the door before smirking, "If it's bound to this house, I'll just leave." He opened the door, just to scream when he saw not a hallway, but replicas of the room they were currently in.

"My goodness…" The Fruit-Merchant hummed.

"What on Earth is going on here?" Orochimaru panted, Kabuto going to try the other door and screaming as he had the same result. The room trembled, the paintings and wallpaper going red before—

Orochimaru trembled as he was being crawled over by multi-colored toddlers, one for each shade of the rainbow. Kabuto whimpered as he was being crawled over by more of them.

Naruto found himself trapped in the eyes of a green toddler, his eyes growing hazy as the child looked at him. After a few minutes, the child smiled, "Mama!"

* * *

><p>The room quaked, almost taking down the Fruit-Merchant since he was still standing on the table. He could only watch as the room he was in broke off from the rooms that Naruto, Orochimaru, and Kabuto were sitting in.<p>

Naruto blinked for a moment before he passed out, falling to the floor like the turning of pages in a book.

* * *

><p>In a room with a door painted over by a phoenix, Naruto was lying unconscious on the ground. He only stirred when his nose twitched and he muttered, "It stinks…", turning to see a concrete box standing in the center of a strange pool of off-colored water; flies buzzing over it.<p>

When he sat up, he could also see a group of strange, delicate toys. They were shaped like birds but each had a bell on either wing. "Hm?" He looked at his stomach and saw that there was a protective seal on it…

As well as the yellow toddler from earlier.

He screamed, knocking the yellow doll to the floor and running to the other side of the room; watching the doll from the other side of the pool. He panted for a moment, trying to catch his breath.

He could hear laughing from the other side of the door. "People?" He asked before he gently slid it open and peeked inside. There was a man and a young girl, both nude, in bed; obviously enjoying themselves. Naruto gasped, the noise turning their attention towards him. "My apologies!" Naruto gasped again, closing the door. The inhabitants quickly resumed their activities.

In the room, there was a clay doll dressed in blue. The bed that the man and woman were in had a coil of red cloth at the end. With every moan, gasp, and laugh, the cloth would unravel…

Closer and closer…

Towards the doll.

"What is this?" Naruto whispered, catching himself before he fell into the pool.

Inside, the cloth finally reached the doll. In the blink of an eye, it changed into a blue toddler. It stared at the two for a moment before giving a happy sigh.

"Where am I?" The blonde asked, looking around for an exit.

* * *

><p>The Fruit-Merchant sat on the table in the original room, sighing, "This will be difficult."<p>

"How can you be so relaxed about this?" Orochimaru hissed out, "Do something!" The Fruit-Merchant whispered something to his sword, the instrument growling angrily.

* * *

><p>Naruto looked across the pool, noticing that the doll was gone. Just when he wanted to investigate, he heard a soft voice say,<p>

"_This way… _

_It's coming…"_ He then looked at his feet to see the yellow doll.

"Get away from me!" He screamed, running out into the hall to put as much distance between him and the doll as possible. But just as he wanted to make sure he was far from it…

It was gone again.

Rather than ask questions, he slowly walked down the hall, looking for an exit.

He didn't notice the doll following behind him.

* * *

><p>A slot opened in a wall, a purple-clad doll being squeezed out.<p>

* * *

><p>"You're the one who refuses to talk, sir." The Fruit-Merchant stated to Orochimaru. The snake-like man was quiet, looking away as the bluenette regarded his bird-shaped toy that had started shivering.<p>

The ones in the other room were trembling as well.

Finally, Orochimaru whispered, "This room… was made as an offering to the dead."

* * *

><p>All the bird-toys leaned to the side.<p>

* * *

><p>"What do you mean?" The bluenette asked, "An offering?" Orochimaru clicked his tongue before adding,<p>

"It was all I could do for them."

"All you could?"

"Damn it!" The brunette hissed, "This place used to be a brothel!"

They suddenly found themselves in the room with the pool where Naruto was earlier. The Fruit-Merchant glanced at the off-colored water before asking, "Where is this?"

"The abortion room," Orochimaru stated, his voice getting less gravely, younger, "A grave for all the children produced." A younger Orochimaru looked up at the Fruit-Merchant and spoke, "We were doing them a favor. What's wrong with that?"

The bluenette flinched as he saw a cluster of dolls crowding his feet, but in a flash they were gone.

* * *

><p>"Huh?" Naruto asked as he saw one of the bird-toys lying on the ground. He tapped it, wondering why it wasn't standing. He picked it up, feeling a bit at ease, before he heard a voice whisper,<p>

* * *

><p>"Naruto."<p>

"What?"

"Naruto." He walked towards the direction of the call, another sliding door. He slid it open a bit a nearly fell back when he saw the room's inhabitants. One of them was a young man with moonlight pale skin and navy-blue hair and the other was…

"The young master… Sasuke-donno…" Naruto whispered, "And myself?"

They were both in bed, the yellow doll from earlier appearing besides Naruto's feet before he was taken into the scene.

"Naruto…" Sasuke whispered, kissing Naruto's cheek, "I love you."

"What?" Naruto gasped, covering his naked body with the sheets. Sasuke smiled,

"Naruto, I love you."

"But… I'm just your servant." The blonde whimpered.

"I love you."

"Your father and mother won't allow it." Naruto explained.

"I love you," Sasuke said again, "Let us marry!"

"Marriage?" Naruto flinched, "Are you sure?"

"I don't care what happens…" The navy-bluenette nodded, ruffling Naruto's blonde spikes.

"Really?" Naruto dared to smile when Sasuke stated,

"You're all I need." Kissing a smooth, unmarred cheek. Naruto nodded, whispering,

"Then I can tell you."

"Tell me what?" Sasuke asked, charming smile still on his face. Naruto saw in that smile all the confidence he needed to say,

"I… I'm carrying your child, Sasuke." Sasuke's face went dark,

"Huh?"

He was soon standing in the back of the room, fully dressed and smirking, "Oh really?" Naruto gasped, eyes wide, as he found himself in bed with the Uchiha's loyal assassin, Kakashi, the older man smirking,

"You'll sleep with anyone who has money, huh little whore?"

* * *

><p>Naruto screamed as he was forced to watch himself be raped, his face cut up by Kakashi's nails.<p>

* * *

><p>In the abortion room, both Orochimaru and the Fruit-Merchant heard the blonde's screams and sobs, the serpentine man chuckling, "What a stupid boy. Right Kabuto?" The young man's head, legs, and arms were dangling from the ceiling as he replied,<p>

"Yes sir."

* * *

><p>The group of men on the staircase, all looking like Sasuke, laughed as they heard Naruto screaming and sobbing at the memories he had been forced to re-witness.<p>

* * *

><p>Naruto was lying on the table, still crying his eyes out. "Mama…" A child's voice whispered, "Mama…" Naruto sniffled, opening his teary eyes and seeing four women around the table, each holding one of the strange infants. A group of the toddlers looked around before saying,<p>

"_How nice!"_

Their line of vision shifted when one of them, a red-tinted one, announced, "I've decided."

"_Happy birthday!"_ A line of dolls cheered.

Everyone, including Naruto, looked into another room where a red doll was connected to a couple's bed by a red cloth. The doll spoke, "Thank you. I'll use these people."

"_Congratulations!"_

"I've finally got a mother." The red toddler walked towards the couple, smiling.

* * *

><p>The crying of infants could be heard all throughout a flesh-toned version of the hall. At the end, a door opened to show Orochimaru's younger face sneering, "My goodness, such a nuisance!" The air behind him was saturated in red, as if filled with blood.<p>

* * *

><p>"She seems so nice…" The toddler sighed, cuddling its head into the woman's lap.<p>

* * *

><p>"If you can't work," Orochimaru hissed to a young girl in his office, "How are you going to work off your debt?"<p>

* * *

><p>"It's no use hiding…" The snake-like man smiled, as if in a daze as he watched his younger self pull a blood-drenched red cloth from an undisclosed location.<p>

"If you don't work, you don't eat!" _Pull._ "You're whores! Sold to pay a debt!" _Tug._

* * *

><p>The red doll was knocked over as the cloth underneath was taken away. Naruto stood, eyes wide in shock and horror as he watched Orochimaru. The red toddler was whimpering, looking at the woman who was holding him in desperation. "You can't work with a child in the works…"<p>

"Stop it…" Naruto whispered as the toddler looked at him.

"In order for us to survive…" The young Orochimaru smiled, his hands dripping blood. "I had no choice."

* * *

><p>In the abortion room, Naruto had passed out again, lying on top of the cement box. The birth water around him soon turned thick, rancid, and red. Like stale blood.<p>

Clay dolls floated through it, more of them spilling out from the walls.

* * *

><p>Orochimaru ripped a red cloth apart, blood splashing over a green-clad doll as the sounds of a baby's tears ripped through the air. He tossed the cloth to the floor, the work done. In the abortion-room pool, a small hand reached out; clinging for help.<p>

* * *

><p>In his mind, Naruto was walking the halls. "You're with child aren't you?" He flinched and turned, seeing Kabuto. But the grey-haired man was now much younger, around ten. He adjusted his glasses and smiled, "That's no good.", holding up a dripping knife.<p>

"No!" Naruto tried running but tripped over a table in his haste. Kabuto giggled, reaching forward,

"Don't worry, we'll help you out."

* * *

><p>Naruto awoke with a jolt in the abortion-room, lying on his stomach with a young Orochimaru behind him. "What?"<p>

"If that pest is gone," Orochimaru cackled, "The Zashikiwarashi won't come after you!" He held his hands together in a tight fist before slamming them into Naruto's back.

"STOP!" Naruto cried out in pain.

"That spirit wanted to be born!" Orochimaru laughed, repeating the action.

"STOP IT!"

"That's why it's coming after you!"

"MAKE IT STOP!" Naruto sobbed out, "Please don't kill him!"

* * *

><p>Suddenly, everyone was back in the main room. Orochimaru and Kabuto panted as if they had just run a marathon and Naruto stood there; petrified from what he had just been through.<p>

A loud crack sounded as a hand made up of the bloodied rushed in through the doorway, grabbing Orochimaru before another hand grabbed Kabuto. More of the ragged, dripping cloth surged into the room, piling up until it formed a large mass.

The mass grew and grew until it took the shape of a grotesque infant, large yellow and purple eyes whipping around as it opened its off-colored mouth, releasing a distorted wail and drippings of birth water. It paid no heed to the old innkeeper's screams as it took his body to its mouth and chewed off the upper half, doing the same to Kabuto before waving the remaining bits of flesh like toys.

The Fruit Merchant jumped into the room from the roof and regarded the new being with weary eyes, his sword at the ready. Naruto whispered,

"Mr. Fruit-Merchant?"

"Those bound to this room were murdered when this was a brothel," The bluenette explained, "A child's emotions…" The sword purred, the Fruit Merchant smiling, "Now I just need the regret. Where is it? I need it to draw my blade…"

"Don't!" Naruto screamed, running over to the monstrous child, "Don't hurt them! What did those poor children ever do to you?"

"It's a foul spirit." The Fruit Merchant explained, the monstrous child drooling out,

"_Mama… Mama…"_, as it tried to crawl towards the blonde.

"It wants to rip itself out of your stomach—"

"It just wants a chance to live in this world!" Naruto interrupted, spreading his arms to defend the beast.

"It can't!" The bluenette explained, but Naruto shook his head before turning towards the spirit and holding his arms out to it.

"Come here," He smiled, his being completely calm despite the crackling protective seal on his stomach, "I'll give birth to you as well."

The Fruit Merchant flinched, eyes going wide at the admission. For an instant, the large beast shifted into a pile of the strange toddlers. The blue-haired male was flabbergasted, asking, "You wish to give birth to the spirit?"

"Mm." Naruto nodded, "All those in my womb… Are my children."

"Stop this," The Fruit Merchant pleaded, the toddlers glaring at him, "You'll be sucked into their world!" Naruto only smiled, tilting his head to the side.

He ripped the seal away.

Immediately, a wretched pain tore through his entire body; blood seeping down from between his legs. He gasped, eyes going wide at all the rushing blood before he whispered, "But… why?"

The Fruit Merchant could only shake his head as the blonde's screams filled the room.

* * *

><p>In another room, a crack formed down the center of the yellow doll. But then, a chorus of children cheered, <em>"Happy birthday!"<em>

"I like this one!" The doll laughed, a scene of Naruto stroking the yellow toddler showing on the walls. "He always strokes me." The scene shifting to Naruto rubbing his stomach, "So kind…"

_Rub. Caress. Rub._

"So sweet…"

_Rub. Caress. Rub._

"So kind…"

Naruto whimpered as he found himself in an all-white room, a red strip of cloth connecting him to the doll. He looked behind him and saw a collection of other dolls, their red cloths leading into the abyss.

"I'm glad it was him." The yellow doll spoke again, thinking back to all they went through, "I'm sorry if I hurt you so much… Thank you for trying your best… And thank you for caressing me with your words and voice…"

The yellow toddler grabbed Naruto's hand, nuzzling it a bit, before giving a pointed stare towards the other children.

The yellow doll cracked some more.

"I love you…" The yellow doll spoke, "I love… you… Thank… you…" Naruto picked up the doll, rubbing it in hopes that the cracks would stop.

"You're welcome." He choked out, tears dripping from his eyes. "Thank _you_ for coming to me. For choosing _me._"

The other toddlers watched Naruto with wide, multi-colored eyes.

* * *

><p>The Fruit-Merchant's sword purred one last time.<p>

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry." Naruto whispered to the other toddlers as he cradled the yellow doll to his chest, "But I can't be your mother. We can't be together."<p>

* * *

><p>A large sword made of glowing blue steel cut through the red cloths of the toddlers. Just before it reached one of them, time seemed to stop for a moment as it smiled.<p>

* * *

><p>"But I—" Naruto turned to say something, but he saw that all the other dolls were gone.<p>

* * *

><p>With blue skin covering thick, taught muscles, and long, wild blue hair, Hoshigaki Kisame swung his mighty blade once before the abortion-room went silent. He clicked his sharp teeth –<p>

* * *

><p>The Fruit-Merchant appearing back in the hidden inn room. He walked towards a painting on the wall, barely noticing Naruto's peacefully sleeping form next to the fireplace; his charm from earlier sitting by his stomach.<p>

"There there…" The Fruit-Merchant whispered, running his fingers along the wall-painting before he walked out of the room.

* * *

><p>"Shh… There there…" Naruto whispered, stroking the wall of the room, "It's okay…" He was all alone, but he smiled as he rubbed the wall, trying to console the unseen forces within.<p>

His stomach growled, causing the blonde to smile, "I never did get any food, did I?" He looked down at his stomach and giggled, "Are you sure I should be your mother?"

_Rub. Caress. Rub._

"I hope to see you soon."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **

**TG- Well, what does everyone think? Should I continue? **

**Give me your love in the form of reviews! Thanks for reading! **

**-Tyranno's girl.**


	3. Sea Coffin 1

**A/N: Hey, remember this story? Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't. Sorry about the long wait, just been busy with a lot of other stuff when it came to finishing and editing this story. But luckily, now you get to see where I've decided to go with it. Including a twist worthy of M. Night Shamylan at the end of this update. **

**So, let's begin mon amis!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Mononoke, or Hetalia (you all know what it means when I add this to a disclaimer.)**

* * *

><p>On a large boat, straight out of the history books of China, an older gentleman was standing on top of a balcony. His long, spiky white hair played in the wind as he spoke, "'Do not leave the harbor on the tenth of any month!'" His eyes narrowed, "Thus was the rule of this port. However, never hearing of this rule, several young fishermen took a boat out and went to make an earning."<p>

You could practically hear the strum of the Biwa as he began again, "The boat swayed, the sky grew dark, and they were soon enveloped by a strange fog! 'My goodness, what could that be?' Then," He sat down, "A ship carrying the wretched souls of the damned appeared before them, controlled by the spirit of a sailor lost at sea. The spirit turned to them and wheezed out,

'Give me your ladle!'

Referring to the long-handled instrument the men carried." The old man sighed, scratching at his neck, "Not knowing what would happen if they refused, they handled the ladle over to the ghost. Having appeased the spirit, they—"

"Oh!" A delicate hand raised up in the air, a woman's voice calling out, "I know what happens!" The hand belonged to a woman with long, wavy black hair and sparkling red eyes; her body clad in a white, black-swirled kimono. She was sitting with a feminine-looking Chinese male, his chocolate-shaded hair in a pony-tail that draped over his shoulder, and there was a youth sitting near the edge of the ship's built-in pond. His hair was teal and his skin was pale against his purple yukata, a large sword resting on his back. The woman nodded before continuing, "The ladle is filled with sea-water and the fishing boat sinks, right?"

The old man nearly sputtered out in rage but suppressed himself because of the woman's appearance, "Yes, that's how it happened… Anyway, that's why a ship should always carry an extra ladle."

"Well done Jiraiya!" The Chinese man stood, clapping his hands, "A wonderful tale, aru!" Jiraiya shook his head in fake modesty before the younger man spoke up, "Well then, even if we're all strangers, fortune has compelled us to all travel in the same boat today, aru. If I might be so bold, but perhaps we should introduce ourselves?"

* * *

><p>The wind blew through the ship's elegant sails.<p>

* * *

><p>"I'll go first then!" The man who was speaking announced, "My name is Wang Yao and I've been sailing my family's vessel, <em>The Shimmering Fortress<em>, for the past three years now, aru! I use it to travel all over the world in bring back things that I find interesting to my homeland!"

"Ha!" Jiraiya laughed before he cleared his throat, "Jiraiya's the name, as you've all heard, I'm a novelist. I travel all around, weaving tales of beautiful…"

"Oh…" The woman sighed, her attention straying from the conversation, "A massive ship like this and not one other woman to talk with?"

"And you?" All attention had suddenly turned to the woman who blushed and stated,

"Um, I'm Kurenai! I used to be the seamstress for the Hoku household, but—" Jiraiya suddenly whooped, interrupting Kurenai's talk,

"You mean the Hoku house of the Ghost Cat story?"

"Oh…" Kurenai whispered, clutching at her kimono, "So it's a famous story now?" She cleared her throat and replied, "Yes, you see, I've decided to go home back to my husband and try and find work closer to my family."

"And you?" Yao called over to the youth sitting by the pond, "Young samurai, could you please grace us with your name?" The youth looked out onto the ocean before quietly replying,

"Suigetsu. Cousin to the late lord Zabuza Momochi."

"Thank you for your answer!" Yao smiled before looking down towards the balcony below them, "And we even have some western visitors today with us, aru! Oi, care to introduce yourselves?"

The younger of the two, a man with wavy brown hair dressed in simple clothing, spoke up, "Oh, um, I'm Toris and I'm the main servant for Prince Ivan here!" He held out a hand towards the large, quiet man besides him. He was dressed in elegant clothing, his cream hair cut short and lavender eyes cold and stern as he read a book in silence.

"Ah!" Yao beamed, "Royalty on my humble ship, aru! Wow!" But Jiraiya looked at the scene, humming,

"A foreign noble on a ship at sea? Hm… An interesting plot device."

* * *

><p><em>The First Night<em>

* * *

><p>"At any rate," Kurenai spoke as she stood to her feet to walk around, "This is an unusual ship." She looked up, "The sails are far too thin and delicate to catch much wind," Then she looked down, "And I've never seen a boat with a pond built in the deck before."<p>

"I'm glad you find it interesting, aru." Yao smiled as he walked over, looking at the koi, goldfish, and beta fish swimming in the calm water. "Come," He told Kurenai as he began walking towards the descending staircase, "I'll show you the rest."

* * *

><p>"Ah!" Kurenai gasped, looking at the wall-high aquarium of multi-colored fish, "Such huge betas, and so many colors!"<p>

"Yes, this is the best aquarium in the world, aru!" Yao bragged, a blush on his face. Kurenai had to ask,

"How many do you have in here?"

"Well, let me think…" Jiraiya had come along with them, but his attention was hardly intrigued by the fish. He stood there, thinking about the plot to a new book when he glanced to the side and smiled,

"It seems we forgot a passenger…" Kurenai and Yao looked over at the indicated staircase to see what Jiraiya was talking about. But Kurenai went pale as she screamed,

"Oh no! It's _you_!" A tall, broad-statured man with wild blue hair hidden underneath a bandana stood on the staircase; his body covered in vibrant robes and a heavy carrying case on his back. "Mr. Fruit-Merchant, why are _you_ here?" He seemed to be ignoring the noise, even when Yao asked who he was and Kurenai replied, "He's the one who exorcised the Ghost Cat from the Hoku house!"

A wind that seemed to have a magenta hue to it whisped by, The Fruit-Merchant sniffing it before he muttered, "A sweet-smelling wind…"

"Oi!" Jiraiya called up, taking in the man's appearance, "Are you some sort of sorcerer?" The Fruit-Merchant smiled before speaking in that calm, deep, decadent voice,

"Just a… Fruit-Merchant… You see…"

* * *

><p>"If this wind keeps up," Yao explained as they all stood around the navigation room, "We should get to the mainland in four or five days, aru!" He turned to his first mate, "Right Yong Soo?"<p>

"Mm-hm!" The young Korean man nodded before going to check on the rest of the ship. He stopped at the balcony when he noticed, "No stars out tonight, though."

"Who needs stars with a ship like this? You see," Yao pointed to what looked like a large compass in the middle of the room, "That compass is what controls the boat, and it's pointing north…"

Ivan narrowed his eyes, glaring at the device.

"If everything stays in balance, like the Yin and Yang, we should get to the mainland just fine, aru!" Jiraiya hummed, looking out at the sea,

"Balance huh?"

"Mr. Fruit-Merchant?" Kurenai asked, watching the bluenette from across the balcony, "If a demon or something comes here, you'll use your sword and slay it, right?" The Fruit-Merchant's eyes were looking to the ceiling, but he replied,

"Why?"

"Wh- _Why?_" Kurenai asked in disbelief, "You _know_ why!" The Fruit-Merchant only sighed,

"Demons and spirits are things that should simply not exist. Yet, there are millions of them everywhere. We could try and kill as many as I could and still not even make a dent in their population."

"Isn't that what they say," Kurenai whispered, "About the gods?" The bluenette nodded,

"Similar, yes. But foul spirits are different."

* * *

><p>In his mind's eye, The Fruit-Merchant was on the ceiling while Kurenai was still in her position on the floor. His dark eyes glared at a strange creature a few inches away. It seemed to be a large fish but its body ended in the disembodied leg of a man. The Fruit-Merchant narrowed his eyes as the creature seemed to be drowning due to a lack of water, it's large red eye looking around the room.<p>

* * *

><p>"Hey…" The Fruit-Merchant's thoughts were brought back to the floor as Suigetsu walked down the stairs, panting and sweating a bit, "That sword of exorcism…" He panted and licked his lips, "Would you mind drawing it so I could see it?"<p>

Kurenai was a bit put off by the teen's manner but the Fruit-Merchant only shook his head, "I can't. For my sword to be drawn, I have to know the Form, Truth, and Regret of a foul spirit."

"Heh," Jiraiya huffed as he walked into the hall, "His power doesn't seem so impressive for someone so _mysterious_. I, on the other hand –"

* * *

><p><em>That night…<em>

* * *

><p>The boat rocked and groaned as it was carried over the ocean waves. Inside the boat, the only sounds that could be heard were the boat's creaks and groans, and a soft voice reading from a book of western fairy-tales.<p>

They were abruptly stopped.

* * *

><p>In the navigation room, Yong Soo was in a deep sleep in the lounge-chair of the room. He was snoring so loud that he didn't hear the footsteps coming into the room. Nor did he notice something being placed by the compass, the needle beginning to sway, causing the boat to move.<p>

As the footsteps depart, we can see a rod of iron leaning against the compass table.

In the sleeping quarters, Toris leaned against the door, softly sobbing as he put on a pair of shoes.

To realign the compass arrow to 'North', the boat moved and moved until it was finally straight again. The clouds in the sky above being the only witness to the boat shifting in course.

* * *

><p>"Hm?" Kurenai hummed as she drowsily opened her eyes, having the sense that she wasn't alone in the sleeping quarters.<p>

There was no one else there.

* * *

><p>The Fruit-Merchant was sitting at the edge of the pond on deck, listening and smelling that strange, feminine-colored, sweet-smelling wind. But all at once, it disappeared. He also noticed that all of the fish in the pond were swimming towards the innermost corner for safety.<p>

"The wind…" The bluenette muttered, "Why has it stopped?"

He was also there to witness the foul fog that began to roll in.

* * *

><p><em>The Second Night<em>

* * *

><p>Kurenai awoke the next morning, finding herself all alone. She quickly got dressed and walked outside.<p>

No one was there.

On the second floor there was silence as well.

Finally, she made it to the highest floor where the pond was and smiled, "So you're all up here!" Indeed, all of the ship's passengers were up on deck. But none of them looked like they were enjoying the fresh air. Kurenai noticed the strange fog all around, asking, "What's going on?" Yao gulped before nervously speaking,

"Well, you see…"

"Though it's morning," Jiraiya called out, pointing towards the sky, "The sun is nowhere to be found." Kurenai gulped as she looked up towards the foggy sky, asking,

"There's no sun… But it's still so hot."

"Your majesty," Toris whispered to Ivan, "We should get you out of the heat." Ivan ignored him, keeping his gaze out towards the sea.

"Shouldn't we be seeing the harbor by now?" Jiraiya asked, Kurenai huffing,

"Well I don't see anything at all."

* * *

><p>All eyes were on the compass in the navigation room and the map of the ocean they were traveling. The Fruit-Merchant was busy inspecting the compass table as Jiraiya spoke with Yao. "This is our departure point, right?" He pointed at the map, Yao nodding,<p>

"Yes."

"And this is our destination?"

"That's right." Jiraiya sighed, Kurenai asking all the men in the room,

"What are you all doing? Should we just be sitting around like this?" Jiraiya ignored her as he stated,

"I've heard tell that the area between the three points on this map is called the Demon's Triangle."

"The Demon's Triangle?" Yao, Yong Soo, and Kurenai screamed, The Fruit-Merchant smiling as he heard the name.

* * *

><p>On another balcony of the ship, Ivan was busy marking a certain point inside of a book that seemed to have a very detailed map of the oceans while Toris read to him again.<p>

* * *

><p>"Yes," Jiraiya continued, "Anyone who wanders into this spectral area will be attacked by all sorts of foul spirits and demons and never be returned to their homes!"<p>

"Impossible, aru!" Yao gasped in shock-laced horror. Jiraiya looked at the map once more before stating,

"This is… The Sea of Demons."

"Demons?" Kurenai gulped. Yao shook his head, running to the compass table, screaming,

"That can't be! Yong Soo, the compass is still pointing north, isn't it?" Yong Soo nodded, the compass's red needle still pointing towards North.

* * *

><p>Suddenly, the needle shifted east; everyone screaming as it moved.<p>

* * *

><p>Up on deck, Suigetsu was carving a small block of wood; glancing up at the sky every once in a while.<p>

* * *

><p>The Fruit-Merchant was holding the iron rod that he had found by the compass table closer to the compass, moving it back and forth. "This iron rod is a magnet," He explained as he moved it, back and forth, "With this hidden near the compass, one could control the direction of the ship."<p>

"Why on Earth would someone do this, aru?" Yao screamed, running back and forth in a panic to see if he could do anything to get them out of there. Kurenai carefully looked around before whispering,

"Then that means… The culprit is still on this ship."

The steady beating of drums could be heard from around them. Everyone was quiet, Jiraiya smirking, "I know what this is. Kokuu Taiko: a drumming demon. Alas, if it was the Ghost Ship, my poetry could have calmed it down and sent it back to its world."

* * *

><p>In his mind's eye, The Fruit-Merchant was standing on the ceiling of the room, everyone still talking amongst themselves below. He found his attention on the spiraling spine bone of a serpentine fish wrapping itself around the staircases of the ship.<p>

At the end of it, there was the head of a strange bird: it was white, with three red, wandering eyes on each side of its head. Every time it moved and opened its mouth, the sound of chains could be heard.

* * *

><p>The bluenette's attention was ripped back to the navigation room when the compass started to spin out of control, the glass covering it shattering as the boat quaked; something crashing into it. Kurenai and Yao were screaming, Jiraiya yelling, "What is that?"<p>

Yong Soo rushed over to a window, gulping when the clouds took on a yellow and red hue, hovering over the waves around them.

Suigetsu silently walked down to the navigation room just as Ivan and Toris had arrived, the young swordsman humming, "It seems we've been trapped."

"No!" Toris gasped, turning to Ivan, "Your majesty, surely this is just someone's idea of a joke, right?" Ivan chuckled, shaking his head,

"Calm yourself, Toris. The denizens of the underworld prey on those of weak mind and soul."

"I can't believe…" Jiraiya gulped, "I'm in the Demon's Triangle! Such a story could be weaved from this and –"

"Kurenai-san." The Fruit-Merchant's voice broke through the old man's ramblings, said woman looking over to see the bluenette unpacking his carrying case; a familiar item floating out of it.

"Oh! Scales-chan!" She smiled as the bird-like toy floated onto her finger. Jiraiya was obviously unnerved as he asked,

"Scales? What are you weighing?" Kurenai smiled, shaking her head,

"His scales determine distance _not_ weight."

"Distance to what?" The old man asked. The Fruit-Merchant smiled,

"To something not of this Earth."

The scale tilted to the side.

* * *

><p>Outside, the clouds above took the same hue as the clouds floating around the boat.<p>

Slowly, gradually, a massive form began to descend from the skies. It looked to be a titanic sea-vessel of some sort, its hull covered in various sea-shells and barnacles.

"It's huge…" Kurenai gasped as they all had moved to the deck, Jiraiya completely flabbergasted,

"_That's_ the Ghost Ship? No one told me it would be _this_ big!" The Fruit-Merchant muttered to himself as everyone else panicked,

"Whether we kill it or decided to display it in Edo, this will require a bit of finesse." Jiraiya looked towards the bluenette and asked,

"Why don't you try your sword of exorcism?" By the pond, Suigetsu gasped and turned, smiling,

"I'd like to see that."

"He told you!" Kurenai shouted, "He needs the Form, Truth, and Regret first!"

"Well, I'd say the form is more than taken care of…" Jiraiya huffed.

The air went still.

The Ghost Ship stopped its descent, allowing its formidable presence to seep into the air.

Abruptly, the strange bird-skeleton creature that The Fruit-Merchant had seen earlier shot out from its hull, more of them surging towards the ship below. The group was screaming as the creatures wrapped around the boat, but The Fruit-Merchant was calm as he asked, "Ghost Ship?"

His sword growled in irritation.

Kurenai whispered, her eyes going wide, "The sword didn't accept the answer?" Jiraiya rushed to the center of the deck and shouted,

"Quick, everyone ready your ladles!"

"That won't do any good…" The Fruit-Merchant spoke, Jiraiya snapping,

"Why the hell not?"

"This slow, sluggish movement," The Fruit-Merchant explained, "Is uncharacteristic for a foul spirit, let alone a demon. Besides," He chuckled, "It has yet to demand a ladle."

"Then what do they want, aru?" Yao cried, hiding underneath a table. The Fruit-Merchant smirked,

"They're saying how they want us to join them."

"I don't want to become a demon!" Kurenai shrieked, Jiraiya calling out,

"Ship-owner!" Yao looked up, "Gather all your stove's ashes and bring them to me at once!"

"Okay…" Yao nodded, still a bit unsure, "Yong Soo, let's go!"

"I'll help!" Kurenai called as she followed them.

* * *

><p>"Why ashes and not salt, aru?" Yao asked Jiraiya as Yong Soo helped line the widows of the ship with ash.<p>

"The ocean is already filled with salt," Jiraiya stated as Kurenai sprinkled ashes over the doorways, "It won't help against the Ghost Ship."

"Will this be enough?" Kurenai asked, the area going silent. All seemed to be at peace.

More of the spiny birds shot through the stairways, Kurenai yelling, "No! It didn't do anything!"

"Ship-owner," The Fruit-Merchant asked, "What happened to the ropes that held the firewood together?" Yao had been running about in fear but he stopped to reply,

"They were burned with the wood, what else?"

"I see…" The bluenette nodded, "If anything besides wood is in those ashes…"

"They won't ward off the dead…" Jiraiya groaned.

"Fine then!" Suigetsu shouted, drawing the over-sized sword he had on his back, "If that won't work, I'll just slice them up!" With that, he sliced through one of the creatures, it disappearing with a poof and leaving nothing but seaweed on the blade.

"You cannot kill what isn't alive," The Fruit-Merchant spoke, "A sword used for killing won't work."

All at once, the creatures stopped.

Then Yao's ship started shaking as the Ghost Ship began to pull it up, obviously trying to bring those below into its grasp. "My poor boat, aru!"

"Why are we floating?" Kurenai shouted before turning towards the bluenette and crying, "Mr. Fruit-Merchant, please do something!"

"Well…" The Fruit-Merchant hummed as he opened his carrying case and taking a few things out, "I am still a Fruit-Merchant, aren't I?" He sat down and got to work, Jiraiya barking out, "How can you be so calm? What are you going to do, bribe them with food?"

The Fruit-Merchant quietly worked, mixing a few juices with a few dried fruits before grinding them all together into a fizzling paste.

"No, not necessarily…" The bluenette calmly replied, "Jiraiya, you're a novelist, right?"

"Yes…"

"Then could you recite a poem for the Ghost Ship? I still need time to finish this…"

"Okay…" The old man gulped before taking a scroll from his pocket and reading out loud, Toris deciding to help by reading one of Ivan's story-books. As The Fruit-Merchant worked, he gently explained,

"Demons and foul spirits come to this world through darkness..." He poured the sizzling mixture into a small, paper disk; Ivan smiling,

"These demons must be numerous, as to block out the sun…" The paper disk, after it was sealed up, popped up into a beautiful, round lantern; Yao screaming,

"Then is there no way to escape?"

"However," The Fruit-Merchant seemed to be only in a conversation with Ivan, "Light does not only come from the sky…" He nodded to himself before stating to all, "If you open your eyes, you'll be blinded."

He tossed the lantern out of the window, the ball-shaped ornament floating through the sky until it got to a certain point.

It burst into a starburst of white light, an inhuman shriek filling the air as the Ghost Ship relinquished its hold.

* * *

><p>Kurenai whimpered as she covered her eyes. After a moment, she opened them, looking around and seeing that the sea had gotten…<p>

Relatively back to normal.

"Thank the gods, aru!" Yao shouted, "The Ghost Ship is gone!"

"You're no ordinary Fruit-Merchant…" Jiraiya whispered, Kurenai laughing with a flip of her hair,

"I told you he's simply amazing!" The Fruit-Merchant's attention was focused on Ivan for a moment, the prince staring back at him.

The rattling of chains filled the air, Yao and Kurenai screaming, "Why did we have to come here?" Jiraiya stating,

"That's right! Someone altered the compass and made it so we would have to come to this wretched place!"

"The culprit is in this room…" Kurenai whispered, Jiraiya shaking his head,

"Nonsense—"

"You can't talk!" Kurenai shouted, "You just said that this would be a wonderful element for your next book!"

"And Yao," She turned towards the ship-owner, "Maybe _you_ wanted to sell the Ghost Ship's corpse, like those fish of yours!"

"But I—"

"And Suigetsu-kun," She huffed at the young swordsman, "You wanted to see The Fruit-Merchant's sword _so_ badly! You probably just want it for yourself!"

"Cast all the accusations you want, lady," The teal-haired teen rolled his eyes, "But I'm innocent."

"And Toris!" She accused the young brunette, "You were wandering about the boat last night, weren't you?" The servant shivered,

"Well… I was getting sea-sick, so I needed fresh air…"

"In fact," Kurenai concluded, "_None_ of us are above suspicion aside from The Fruit-Merchant and Prince Ivan!" The room was quiet for a moment until chuckling could be heard. They all turned and saw that the source was the bluenette and the cream-haired noble.

"What apparition will appear next?" The Fruit-Merchant asked, a smile on his face. Ivan laughed,

"Who knows? In this place, all is possible."

"Oh," The Fruit-Merchant spoke, a side note, "I've used up all of the fruits in my stock which produce volatile concoctions. We can't use the same trick again." Kurenai could only shiver at the sight of the two men smiling at this horrifying predicament.

"Are you…" She whispered, "Enjoying yourselves? It can't be… You too, Mr. Fruit-Merchant?"


	4. Sea Coffin 2

_Men are transient. _

_Time is hollow. _

_The sea is volatile. _

_Heading for the same port, we travel across the shifting waves. Strange things occur, accusations are thrown. _

_Demons, foul spirits, sea monsters… As long as darkness exists within the hearts of men, there will always be more. _

"Let them come," The Fruit-Merchant announced as he finished writing, "For _my_ invitation is the one they fear most!"

* * *

><p>Yao's prized goldfish swam peacefully in their aquarium home, completely oblivious to the tense situation on the boat. In the main sitting room The Fruit-Merchant was laid out on a couch as he was in deep thought. Kurenai was quietly standing behind him, thinking some complex thoughts of her own.<p>

'_The Fruit-Merchant _did_ in fact exorcise the Ghost Cat from the Hoku mansion… But the Hoku family all met their deaths. Just _who_ did he end up saving in the end?'_ Kurenai bit her lip, _'Whose side is this man on?'_

"With a face like that," Kurenai was shocked to hear the bluenette's voice, even though the man had yet to look back at her, "Does your husband even _want_ you to come home?" The woman puffed up her cheeks in indignation, shouting,

"Why don't you shut up?" Nevertheless, she took a seat on a nearby chair and began, "Not that you would speak the truth, but let me ask anyway." Kurenai sighed, "You're not the one who messed with the compass, are you?" The Fruit-Merchant smiled,

"I wonder." Kurenai only sighed, resting her forehead on her palm.

* * *

><p>Outside, the clouds were still thick and foul; the sun unable to peek in through the unnatural fog. "Even if I <em>did<em> or _did not_ tamper with the compass," The Fruit-Merchant's voice began, "The fact of the matter is that we've been taken to the Sea of Demons."

* * *

><p>Inside, the bluenette sat up and looked out the window as Kurenai asked, "By whom?" She gasped when, out of the blue, The Fruit-Merchant's sword began to growl. "Is that thing alive?"<p>

"I wonder."

"You know," Kurenai shouted, "I understand that you're powerful and everything, but you shouldn't be so damn aloof all the time! That's a _huge_ mood-killer for us women!"

"Not that I'm trying to impress any woman…" The Fruit-Merchant sighed, closing his eyes and allowing flashes of pale skin and ink-black hair to caress his mind for a minute.

"Hey," Kurenai asked, interrupting the bluenette's pleasurable thoughts, "You said that demons and foul spirits are different, right? But aren't they a lot alike. I mean, there are _thousands_ of them."

"Just as there are men, birds, and fish." The Fruit-Merchant nodded, "Beyond this world, there are creatures beyond mankind's understanding."

"Are foul-spirits," Kurenai gulped, "The ghosts of the dead?"

"In most cases." The woman turned to see Jiraiya butting his way into the conversation, "The Ghost Ship we just saw was. But since items and animals have souls as well, there forms are vast indeed!"

"No matter the cause for their form, though," The Fruit-Merchant calmly spoke, "Their reason for being is being human understanding."

"Then what about demons?"

"Just poor souls suffering from vengeance, sadness, and fear from beyond the grave." The Fruit-Merchant sighed, picking up his sword, "What happens when a foul-spirit attaches itself to human emotion?"

"One would become so powerful," Ivan answered from the other side of the ship, as if he were in the conversation himself, "That no man-made seal could stop it, da?"

"Ne?" Suigetsu jumped down from the staircase, asking with glee in his eyes, "But your sword could kill it right?" Kurenai groaned, slapping her palm against her face as she had to explain once again,

"Not without the Form, Truth, and Regret, you numbskull…" But Suigetsu only frowned,

"And just what is 'Truth' and what is 'Regret'?" The Fruit-Merchant was quiet for a moment. Then he spoke,

"Truth is the state of all objects. Regret is the state of the soul."

"I see…" Suigetsu hummed, "The state of an object…" But Kurenai was a bit uneasy now,

"So… Are you saying that there's a demon on this ship?" The Fruit-Merchant was silent once more. But then, from his carrying case, one of the scales floating out and wavering its balance. Just then, Yao's voice could be heard from the deck of the ship, Jiraiya scoffing,

"What now?" He and Suigetsu rushed up the stairs, the old man smiling about how he would right about his slaying of the demon in his next book. Kurenai went to follow, but she noticed that The Fruit-Merchant had yet to get up from his seat.

"Aren't you coming with us?"

"I'll be there in a moment," The bluenette offered. Just then, the scale fell to the ground, "This could be a bit problematic."

* * *

><p>Outside on the deck, everyone was in severe unrest as the skies had turned black; the only light coming from the blue, ghostly bodies of what seemed like fish and sea-jellies. "Look at them all, aru!" Yao whimpered. Suigetsu nodded,<p>

"It's nice to have some light, but this is still kind of freaky…"

Suddenly, the strumming of a Biwa could be heard; Jiraiya pointing, "There's something coming from the bow!"

Sure enough, as some of the fog cleared, a figure was visible. It had the body of a large fish, but it ended in the human leg that was curled up underneath it; it's webbed fingers strumming the stringed instrument in its hands.

"A demon…" Jiraiya whispered. But Suigetsu smirked, reaching for his sword,

"It looks cutable." The being kept moving towards the travelers, Toris whimpering,

"Why is it floating?"

"Because it's a sea-spirit," Jiraiya explained before turning towards Suigetsu, "You can't kill it with a sword."

"Then what the fuck do we do then?" The teen growled back. Jiraiya hummed, a confident smirk on his face,

"It will ask a question: if you think it's frightening." The sea-spirit finally landed on the opposite end of the pool, it's grey puffy lips constantly gasping for air as its one eye looked straight at the humans in front of it. Jiraiya leaned over and told Toris, "You must not answer that it is. Tell it that it doesn't scare you."

"Then will it leave?" Yao asked in a growing panic. But Jiraiya had to wait for a moment,

"Hold on. Was that it..? Oh wait, I know: 'I don't know what lies on the end of my path', _that's_ the right answer!"

"Idiot." Ivan smiled as he saw the old man try to bumble with his poor excuse of logic. Everyone was still scared by the current development, Jiraiya's words not getting rid of the fear in the least. It was made worse…

When the sea-spirit spoke, _"Denizens of this ship, Answer me this!"_

"Here it comes…" Jiraiya smiled.

"_You shall be asked one by one,"_ The sea-spirit explained, _"Refuse and you shall be forced to wander with the rest of us: as the living dead!"_

"Then ask away sir!" Jiraiya smiled over before whispering to Yao, "You ready?"

"No, aru!" But the sea-spirit began anyway,

"_What is it… That you fear most?"_ The Chinese man gulped, sweating profusely as he tried to sputter out,

"Th-That I d-don't know wh-wh-what—"

"_WHAT do you truly fear?"_ That broke it, Yao began to cry,

"That I'll lose all my money and become a disgrace to my ancestors, aru!"

What happened next happened so quickly that one would debate its occurrence at all. The sea-spirit strummed its stringed-instrument, the echoes of the sounds crawling across the pond on deck before a chain of dripping fish bones shot out of the waters and straight into Yao's forehead.

* * *

><p>The Chinese male trembled, his hair drifting loose of its pony-tail, as choking noises could be heard. His brown eyes were wide as he tilted his head back. Yao's eyes were wide and watery as a large mass traveled up his throat, stopping at his open mouth to reveal the head of a large goldfish. Yao choked it out, following by vomiting up seven more drenched in blood and spit.<p>

His lips and chin were covered in the sticky, slick combination when he could finally breathe again, but when he looked down with bloodshot eyes at the dead fish on the floor, he fell to his knees and screamed, "AIYA! MY PRIZED GOLDFISH!"

* * *

><p>"What will I do now, aru?" Everyone in the area was quiet. They hadn't seen what Yao had seen, they only saw him fall to his knees and start crying. Everyone's eyes were keyed in on him before the sea-spirit strummed his Biwa again. Suigetsu smiled as he looked over at the apparition, it asking,<p>

"_What do you fear most?"_

"I fear _nothing_ in this world," Suigetsu chuckled before gabbing his sword, "Ever since I inherited this sword, I have spilled the blood of a hundred men."

"He's nothing but a murderer…" Kurenai whispered, turning her nose up in disgust. The youth let out a shrill cry as he held his sword out towards the sea-spirit,

"I've always wanted… to kill a spirit or a demon…" Just as he said that, the notes of the sea-spirit's instrument crawled across the water on deck: a razor-sharp fish attached to a chain of bones piercing though Suigetsu's skull.

* * *

><p>Suigetsu gasped, looking around himself with weary eyes as he found himself in a room filled with swirling blue mist. Finally, he looked down to see his waist being devoured by a huge, grotesque fish: it's sharp teeth digging into his flesh and it's green and red body embedded by the faces of all those Suigetsu had killed in his life.<p>

"_You little brat…"_ The voice of his uncle Zabuza groaned, _"How dare you kill me..?"_

"_You were always such a nice boy…"_ The head of Zabuza's young wife Haku rasped out. Suigetsu's eyes were wide as he shouted,

"You're all dead! You're dead, I killed you!" He tried stabbing the beast with his sword, just to puncture the still speaking voice of his uncle,

"_Dead because you killed us Suigetsu!"_

"It wasn't _me_!" Suigetsu shrieked, his hand that was holding the sword seized by a ghostly entity, "It – It was my sword! I just wanted to get to the mainland!" But his pleas fell on deaf ears as more ghostly pale arms shoved the rest of his body down into the beastly fish's gullet…

* * *

><p>Suigetsu's prized sword fell to the floor: immediately being covered in yellow, piercing eyes.<p>

With a loud snap, it broke clean in two.

An inhumane shriek filled the air as Suigetsu collapsed, pinkish foam growing from his mouth as his body jerked and spasmed. Toris quickly went to the young man's aid as Jiraiya huffed, "I guess that means he was lying… when he said he feared nothing. Hm…" He looked over the youth's still jerking body, "He must have been afraid of those he slayed in the past."

"Do you go crazy if you lie to it?" Kurenai asked, her voice shaky in fear. "Do you become… like them?" Jiraiya hummed, fanning himself with a pocket-fan,

"You're probably shown all your worst fears… Judging from how badly they ended up." At that, Kurenai snapped,

"Then you're ruined whether you tell the truth or a lie!" After she regained her breath, she asked The Fruit-Merchant, "What should I do?"

"If the problem lies within you…" The Fruit-Merchant began, just for Ivan to finish his thought,

"Then no one else can help you."

The Fruit-Merchant glared at the Prince.

The Prince glared at The Fruit-Merchant.

Kurenai only meeped at the exchange, "This is just too weird for me…" The strumming of the Biwa interrupted her thoughts as the sea-spirit called forth,

"_Woman! What do you fear the most..?"_

"Oh, well…" Kurenai gulped, "Right now, I fear _you_ the most. But I wonder…" She sighed, "What do I really fear the most?"

"_ANSWER ME!"_

"Don't you dare rush me!" Kurenai shouted. But she did think out loud, "Actually, out of these three years I've been married, I've only seen my husband once. And I had to leave him and my newborn son to find work a month after he was born… I guess what I'm saying is," At this point in time, Jiraiya was staring incredulously at the woman who was still talking, "I really do want to see my husband again, we have so many more experiences ahead of us… I'm scared that I might die without meeting him again…"

There was a strum of the Biwa before a fish with a bone-chain attached shot through Kurenai's skull.

* * *

><p>"What is this?" She asked as she stood in the middle of a nice, cozy village: happy families as far as the eye could see. She walked down a sandy path, murky ocean water licking against the soles of her feet until she found a house that she knew, deep inside, was meant for her. So, she walked inside, smiling, "Asuma, I'm home!"<p>

She nearly choked on the splash of bile that threatened to leave her lips as she saw her husband sitting around a bloody, boiling hot-pot next to a dripping, decaying sea-creature dressed in her clothes. The creature opened up the hot-pot, revealing the chopped up remains of Kurenai's son and Asuma smiled, blood dripping down his chin with every word,

"You're home! Want something to eat?"

* * *

><p>As he red eyes rolled to the back of her head, Kurenai fainted; The Fruit-Merchant catching her before she could hit the ground. He reached into his pocket for a fresh orange and ripped it open, waving the fruit until the woman came to. But when she looked around and remembered what she had seen, she screamed, "NO! I don't want to go home! I'm never going home! Not if he's like that!"<p>

"Calm yourself." The Fruit-Merchant whispered, trying to hold the thrashing woman down lest she hurt herself, "What the sea-spirit shows you is just an illusion. All you see isn't real, come back to your own world…" After a few more thrashes and haggard breaths, Kurenai's eyes focused on her surroundings. She turned and whispered,

"Mr. Fruit-Merchant…"

The Biwa was strummed again, Jiraiya gulping, "I guess that I'm next."

"_What do you fear most?"_ The sea-spirit yelled. Jiraiya thought for a moment before stating,

"I – I… What I fear most is…" Then he nodded, "Women! Yep, I'm afraid of women! The prettier they are, ugh!" Kurenai had to roll her eyes at that,

"What a liar…" But nonetheless, the Biwa was strummed: a fish with a bone-chain piercing through the writer's skull. He looked around, as if in a daze before a lecherous smile appeared on his face.

"Well, well, well! Hello girls!" He laughed. Kurenai and The Fruit-Merchant watched on as the old man groped at air, laughing, "Such pretty you things you are! Hey, want to be written down in the pages of history? I…" All of a sudden, his face went grim as he screamed, "NO! Get away from me! Go back to the bowels of the underworld! Leave me be!"

As Jiraiya shouted and ran about the ship, Kurenai had to ask, "I wonder what he's seeing. Then again," She gulped, "Maybe I don't want to know…" Despite the chaotic scene, Ivan looked up and smiled,

"Now, out of the three of us remaining, which shall have to answer to the sea-spirit next?"

"I'll answer." The Fruit-Merchant stated, helping Kurenai to her feet. The sea-spirit asked,

"_What do you fear the most?"_

"What I fear most," The Fruit-Merchant began with ease, "Is the knowledge that the edge of this world exists without Form, Truth, or Regret."

The sea-spirit strummed its Biwa and a fish and bone-chain shot through the bluenette's skull.

* * *

><p>He slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a black space. There was nothing to see for miles and miles. The Fruit-Merchant nodded as he felt his hands disappearing and he only sighed as he felt the rest of his body melt into nothingness.<p>

"Mr. Fruit-Merchant?" Kurenai asked back in real-time. For a while, the bluenette merely stood there. Then,

"The Sea of Demons, where foul spirits roam… Why were we taken here?"

Toris yelped as The Fruit-Merchant's eyes keyed in on him. The Fruit-Merchant frowned, "Let me ask you that."

The Biwa was strummed again, the poor brunette attendant nearly choking as the sea-spirit asked, _"What do you truly fear..?"_

"I – I…" Toris whimpered, his eyes wide in panic before he slowly moved his eyes across the room, "What I truly fear… Is his young majesty." Kurenai gasped, The Fruit-Merchant being silent as Ivan sat: his expression unchanging. "He's a wonderful master," He whispered, but his voice slowly grew in volume, "But so many strange things have happened on this trip…"

"It is true." Ivan nodded.

"I was up all night," Toris began, "Reading to his majesty as he likes, but then…"

* * *

><p>The goldfish were happily swimming in their ornate home when there was a loud gasp, Ivan's voice chuckling, "Toris."<p>

"Yes your majesty?"

"Are you feeling sick after our long journey on this sea?"

"No, I—"

"If you are feeling ill, you should get some fresh air, da?"

"But your majesty—!"

"Go get some fresh air Toris."

"Yes your majesty…"

* * *

><p>"So that's what happened…" Kurenai whispered, remembering the noises she heard in her sleep as Toris continued,<p>

"I had failed him, so I left." He gave a slow nod, "The young majesty was the only one who could have placed that magnet near the compass. Kurenai nearly screamed as Ivan stood,

"Why the hell would you do that?" Ivan shook his head as he walked towards the pond on deck,

"I did not want to involve anyone else. But no ship or vessel would take me to the Sea of Demons, no matter how hard I was begging!"

"You're trembling." The Fruit-Merchant noted, the cream-haired man's body shaking with every step he took, "Why would you want to come here if it terrifies you so?" He looked across the pond, "Sea-spirit! Ask your question!" The dripping entity did just that, red eyes dilating and widening,

"_What is it that you fear? What is it?"_

Kurenai watched the scene, the air growing intense. "He's been waiting for this." She realized as Toris trembled and moved behind her. Ivan stood his ground,

"For twenty years I have trembled in fear every time I thought of it. It is located within this sea."

The Biwa was strummed, one of the eyes decorating it rolling to the side.

"Constantly it has been changing this sea; even drawing a plague of demons to be swarming to it."

The Biwa was strummed again, another eye lolling to the side.

"It is…" Ivan sighed, his voice faltering at the thought of what he was trying to bring forth.

"What is it?" Kurenai whispered, Toris shouting,

"That which made the Sea of Demons!"

The sea-spirit strummed the instrument again and again, the eyes focusing and unfocusing on any given point before Ivan finally stated:

"It is the Sea Coffin on which my sister sailed twenty years ago."

The sea-spirit ran its webbed fingers across the Biwa, memories of three young children, then two flashing through Ivan's mind.

Abruptly, the sea-spirit coughed out a splash of pink water before its body floated back the way it came: the skies slowly returning to their former murky state.

* * *

><p>The winds blew against the vibrant sails.<p>

* * *

><p>"Oh…" Jiraiya groaned as he walked past Ivan, "Is that sea-spirit gone yet?" Toris went to help Yao to his feet, the Chinese male still woozy and coughing. Kurenai whispered to The Fruit-Merchant,<p>

"What's a… sea-coffin?" Before the bluenette could say anything, Jiraiya explained,

"A type of ship made by hollowing out the inside of a large tree." He coughed, wiping at his sweaty forehead.

"So…" Kurenai wondered, "The hull is a cave?" She gasped as she realized, "But if it's made like that, you could never get out!" Jiraiya gave a sad nod,

"Yes, you couldn't get out. That's the type of ship it is."

"What the…" She shook her head and called out, "Ivan, why would your sister get on a ship like that?"

The group was silent, warily looking around themselves in case the sea-spirit came back.

Then, the harsh sound of steel grating and scratching against wood assaulted Ivan's ears; the prince nearly collapsing as he covered his ears, shouting, "The sound of chains! The chains that bounded that damned sea-coffin!"

"I don't…" Kurenai whispered. She slowly looked up towards the sky, shivering as it grew black and nearly fainting as she saw what had suddenly appeared up above them.

It was a large, dripping, purple eye: it's blue and green pupil looking around itself.

A beastly cry echoed throughout the ship as the pond on deck turned red and thick, as if blood. Suddenly, golden, fish-decorated chains shot down from the eye above and into the blood. Everyone could only watch in shock as the chains went further

And further

Down.

Abruptly, they stopped. Then they began hefting something up from the depths. Under the crimson liquid, the chains had wrapped around a massive vessel: trudging it up from the deep.

Ivan stood stark still at the side of the pond, taking out an old book and silently mouthing out the foreign words. But Jiraiya shouted, "Is this another illusion? It's a sea-coffin!"

"No, it can't be!" Kurenai stated, "I see it too!"

"Your majesty!" Toris called out, setting Yao down, "What happened twenty years ago? Why did your sister get into that sea-coffin?"

"How…" Yao whispered, his eyes wide, "Can such a small ship… make such big waves, aru..?"

But soon, the ship shaking and swaying all the way, the sea-coffin made it to rest on top of the blood pond: it's once-ornate hull covered with barnacles and seaweed. And, from the sealed opening of the vessel…

_Creeeaaakkk… Scriiitccchhh… _

_Creeeaaakkk… Scriiitccchhh…_

The sound of nails on wood.

"What is this?" Jiraiya asked, walking up an inspecting the vessel, "The sound is… coming from inside…" He suddenly, yelped, "A person? There's someone _inside_ this thing?"

"That's impossible!" Kurenai rushed over, her eyes wide as she held herself, "She's been in there for twenty years?" Toris only faltered back, falling against the wall and sobbing,

"No! I can't take this! I can't—" He choked, pulling at his hair, "I can't stand such fear!" Amongst all of the chaos, The Fruit-Merchant only whispered, holding his still sheathed sword towards the sea-coffin,

"What is this being's… truth and regret?" He glared at Ivan, "Let me ask you that."

Ivan finished the page he was on before he closed the book and placed it back into his pocket. He then spoke, gently if not a bit fearful, "Forgive me Natalia. I have not forgotten you once in these past twenty years of my life…" He tightened the scarf around his neck before stepping forward, "You went inside this wretched prison in my steed on your own accord and were taken to the Sea of Demons." He choked as he got close enough to touch the vessel, his voice trembling, "Why… Why is it you are harboring such hatred to curse this sea?"

Everyone could only watch as he fell to his knees, tears streaming from his eyes, "Why Natalia? First I lose Katyusha and now this? _Why?_"

_Creeeaaakkk… Scriiitccchhh… _

_Creeeaaakkk… Scriiitccchhh…_

_Creeeaaakkk… Scriiitccchhh… _

_Creeeaaakkk… Scriiitccchhh…_

A bright bolt of lightning struck the ship, everyone too startled to move. Except for The Fruit-Merchant who, in the midst of the blinding light, stated, "The form of this spirit has arrived."

His sword gave a pleasant purr.


	5. Sea Coffin 3

_Hateful feelings…_

_Hurtful feelings…_

_Unforgivable feelings… _

_To face one's own feelings is akin to throwing oneself into a bottomless pit… _

_Or setting sail on an endless sea… _

_Never look at it… _

_You must not think about it… _

"Though you search your soul on the dark, heaving waves," The Fruit-Merchant stated as he shut his book on his latest entry, "You must never look in that place."

* * *

><p>There, on the ground in front of the sea-coffin, Ivan had started reading from that old book again: his words silent to everyone else on deck. Toris walked over and cleared his throat before asking, "Your majesty, are you saying that your sister was sealed in here, twenty years ago…" He shivered, "And is still wandering aimlessly across the sea?"<p>

"Hmph!" Jiraiya huffed, "Just as I suspected! The Sea of Demons _itself_ is a demon, born from the malice within this sea-coffin!"

The Fruit-Merchant stayed still, his sword not responding at all to these statements. It caused Kurenai to think,

'_Isn't that the spirit's truth?'_

"Well, the solution is obvious!" The old writer stated, "We need to exhume this sea-coffin, give this young lady a proper burial, and get the hell away from this wretched sea!" Toris and Yao yelped at that.

"Y-You want to _open_ it?" Yao gasped, Toris adding,

"That's too frightening to even contemplate!"

"Hey!" Kurenai shouted, "This poor girl's been trapped in there for _twenty years_! She obviously would want to come out!" She sighed, "I sure would…"

"No!" Toris shook his head as Ivan ran his fingers across the decorations of the sea-coffin, "It's too much! No one could stay alive in there for that long! If she's been dead for fifty years, then her body would have rotted away!"

"All the more reason," Jiraiya raised his voice, "For us to save Prince Ivan's unfortunate sister!" Though Yao and Toris were rapidly shaking their heads, Jiraiya went on, "This _must_ be Ivan's purpose in life!"

"Can't I convince you _not_ to do that, aru?" Yao whined.

"Should we really open it?" Kurenai asked The Fruit-Merchant, the bluenette replying,

"If you do not wish to roam the seas forever as a demon, then yes."

"Why the hell would I want that?" Kurenai huffed. But she was curious, "Didn't you come here to put demons and foul-spirits to rest?"

* * *

><p>Ivan was still quietly reading out the words of that book to the sea-coffin, unmoving even as Jiraiya, Kurenai, Yao, and Toris brought a plank of wood to help pry the vessel open. "Well then," Jiraiya smiled, "Here we go!" They all pulled and pushed. Except for The Fruit-Merchant who was just watching over the scene, Ivan who was reading, and Suigetsu who was pitifully staring at his broken sword.<p>

"This is harder than I thought it would be, aru!" Yao whined, Kurenai calling out,

"Stop watching and help Mr. Fruit-Merchant!" They all pulled for a while longer, The Fruit-Merchant still watching. Finally, he smiled,

"I see.", and pulled a handful of holy-slips from his sleeve. Kurenai yelped at the sight, her eyes going wide as she carefully moved away from the sea-coffin. "Well then." Everyone slowly turned, right before the slips were flung toward the handle of the sea-coffin's opening.

"Why don't you warn anybody when you do that?" Kurenai yelled as everyone fell to the ground to avoid the flying papers. All of the symbols on the slips turned blue before the handles started to turn, The Fruit-Merchant controlling the movements until the vessel was almost ready to open. Jiraiya gulped,

"Here it comes…"

_Creeeaaakkk… Scriiitccchhh… _

_Creeeaaakkk… Scriiitccchhh…_

One of The Fruit-Merchant's scales floated in front of his and Ivan's face.

The doorway was opened.

And the scale chimed.

* * *

><p>In another plane of time, all of the ship's passengers were sitting on the ceiling of the compass-room: the space filled with water that goldfish and koi happily swam around in. "Me and my sisters: Katyusha older than me, Natalia younger," Ivan began, "We were born to a crownless kingdom back in our snowy home."<p>

The scales were standing guard near the group, even as the shadow of a monstrous fish crept along the floor.

"Katyusha was the only one to have known our parents before they died. And soon, she was taken by the same disease that had devoured them." He turned the page of his book, the words worn down to obscurity, "Natalia and I lived in our family's castle together, and there were no other children allowed in the castle, so we were always together."

The shadow of that monstrous fish still danced across the floor as Ivan spoke, "We were always getting along so well." He gave a sad smile, "Perhaps, we were getting along _too_ well, da?"

"When I was fifteen," A much younger Ivan stated, "I started handling the affairs of my kingdom." He hardly noticed the eerie, pale silhouette of a young woman behind him.

"It was what was expected of me, being my father's son…" Ivan's voice continued on even as he was trapped in a flashback of himself walking through the halls of the castle. He gasped as he felt someone watching him and turned around, seeing a young girl with long, pollen-blonde hair dressed in a dress blue and white. "…Me and Natalia were compelled to follow those expectations…"

Natalia looked up, her blue eyes cold before she whispered, "Big brother."

* * *

><p>"What the hell?" Jiraiya shouted, Toris nearly fainting behind him. Back in real-time, the sea-coffin had been opened, but…<p>

"Natalia!" Ivan screamed, Kurenai panting,

"She's completely gone. Neither,"

"Hide nor hair of her!" Toris whispered even as Ivan kept screaming,

"Natalia!"

The sea-coffin's innards were as bare as the day there were made.

* * *

><p>"They called me Ivan the Great," Ivan began back in the water-filled room, "Ivan the Terrible. My rule was intense and fierce." As he spoke, The Fruit-Merchant looked down to his still quiet sword, "Many could not withstand my rule and left. All the better, less food needed to be divided that way. But…" Ivan sighed, ignoring Toris's panicked looks, "I mostly wanted to forget <em>all about Natalia<em>."

"Your majesty…"

"But _she_ thought about _me_ _EVERY SINGLE DAY!_" Ivan slammed his fist to his lap. "No matter how many times I tried to explain to her…"

"So many goldfish, aru!" Yao whispered as he looked at the fish swimming around them.

"That, as brother and sister," Ivan sighed, "We could never become one."

* * *

><p>"But!" Ivan shouted as he looked inside of the sea-coffin, "I was certain! She had to have been in here!"<p>

"It would seem," The Fruit-Merchant began, "That your sister is not a demon." Jiraiya groaned,

"Then what _is_ the Truth behind this demon?" There was a light chime, the old man scoffing as one of The Fruit-Merchant's scales floated up. "Is it showing us the distance between us and the demon again?"

"Not only measuring…" The Fruit-Merchant spoke as the scale moved through the air. Kurenai gasped, falling back as the scale floated down in front of Ivan's still reading face, "I have sent it to show us the demon's truth." The bluenette nodded, walking behind the frenzied Prince: gently whispering into his ear, "Will you now tell me what the connection between your little sister and this sea-coffin from fifty years ago?"

"The scale is going to bring the Truth…" Kurenai whispered, Ivan's eyes drifting shut, "To light?"

* * *

><p>"Natalia, no!" Ivan shouted, his much younger self dressed in his royal robes as he tried to force his sister off of him; Natalia seething,<p>

"Big brother! All I want is what is best for you!" Ivan groaned as she kissed his cheek, finally pushing her onto her own bed.

"What you are asking is an abomination Natalia."

* * *

><p>"How she longed to be together with me…" Ivan shook his head as he sat in that room filled with water.<p>

"Even so," Younger Ivan said from on top of the staircase, "Knowing this, I chose to ignore her and work to better my kingdom and its people." The Fruit-Merchant looked up from where he sat, asking,

"What then?"

Younger Ivan glared at The Fruit-Merchant before shaking his head, that melancholy smile on his face, "To this day, I do not know whether it was to purify her, to save ourselves, or just to be rid of her…"

"You can't say things like that!" Toris screamed, "Such horrible things… She was your sister your majesty!" Older Ivan shook his head,

"I was _so_ terrified of her… No. I _absolutely…_"

"Hated her." Both Ivans agreed, younger Ivan gritting his teeth, "Always whining about how she wanted to get married!"

"Always sneaking into my room!"

"Trying to kill anyone who got close to me!"

"If only she could be done away with…" Ivan chuckled, "That was my wish. However…"

"Aiya!" Yao shrieked, clutching his chest as he could have sworn he felt someone stab him in the back.

"Natalia was of royal blood." Ivan sighed, ignoring everyone's shouts and screams as the ghostly figure of Natalia either cut, stabbed, scratched, or strangled them. "If she were to suddenly go missing, it would not have been a pretty sight."

"My mind was filled with horrible, terrifying thoughts, day after day after day!" Younger Ivan groaned, clutching at the crown on his head. He abruptly looked over to The Fruit-Merchant, his wide lavender eyes shedding tears, "I was so scared!"

"You are a monster!" Toris yelled, despite feeling his throat being strangle, "What kind of ruler are you? When did you become this way..?" The rest of his outburst trailed off in a wretched sob, Ivan only replying,

"I suppose… I was _always_ a bit of a monster inside. My only regret… Is that my kingdom had to have a ruler like me."

"But why," Kurenai began, despite the bleeding cuts on her arms, "Did Natalia board the sea-coffin?"

The goldfish and koi continued to swim overhead.

"Well,

You see…"

* * *

><p>Ivan stood, walking to the left wall of the room, "Five years after I had begun my rule, my people had become even <em>more<em> dissatisfied with their lives. Their main complaint was that this ocean was not letting any fish come in for people to eat.

* * *

><p>For a brief second, the fish began to sink: as if dead.<p>

* * *

><p>"Someone had somehow tied my family's misfortune to this plague. And then…" The cream-haired man laughed, covering his face in his hands as his younger self began to sob, "They had heard of ways to appease the ocean from the east. They wanted to <em>sacrifice<em> me, stating that as a royal I should be more than happy to do it."

"I couldn't get out of it!" Younger Ivan shouted. "But, after a while…"

"I thought that sacrificing myself, rather than living in torture and fear, would be a better route." Ivan whispered, flinching as he felt his sister's fingers running along his spine. The touch suddenly vanished, leaving the smell of sweet perfume. "Everyone wanted it… It would have been easier…"

Ivan slid against the wall, eyes closed as he remembered, "The people heard of my decision… and built me a sea-coffin."

* * *

><p>The black skies above groaned as the perfumed wind wafted up to the imposing eye above.<p>

* * *

><p>Jiraiya nodded, his face hosting a vicious scratch, "So that's where this sea-coffin came from."<p>

"But in that case," The writer's voice continued, Suigetsu still sitting outside on the deck: staring pitifully at his sword, ignoring how more and more perfumed wind wafted up from the pond of blood. "Shouldn't _you _be inside the sea-coffin? Why did Natalia replace you?"

Ivan was still as stone, even as The Fruit-Merchant's scale and sword floated upward.

* * *

><p>"It was a beautiful vessel indeed." Ivan's voice spoke, outside the sky had changed from black to a morning glow. Suigetsu flinched, slowly turning around and choking on air as he saw that the sea-coffin had reverted from its soggy, barnacle-covered state to a beautiful vessel of golden wood and red and blue engraved paintings. "Like a work of art."<p>

"What the hell…" Suigetsu panted until the petal of a Flax flower floated past him, gathering his attention towards the other side of the deck.

"On the morning I was to board the ship," Ivan began again, "I was to meet with Natalia once more."

There Natalia stood, her long, pollen hair and beautiful blue and white dress fluttering in the ocean breeze. "A gorgeous young girl of sixteen years." As she glared towards the sea, the perfumed winds and Flax petals whipped around her. "Perhaps, we should never have seen each other… Either way, she would not let me board the sea-coffin."

Suigetsu could only watch as Ivan's younger self fought against Natalia, desperately trying to get into the sea-coffin but the young woman forcing him away. Natalia even went so far as to take out a knife and threaten Ivan with it, the Prince backing away slowly from the vessel.

* * *

><p>"If I was a monster," Ivan stated, looking at his own hands, ignoring the shadow of the monstrous fish on the floor that glared at them with a purple eye. "Then that girl was a demon."<p>

"She did not care if our kingdom fell into flames or succumbed to a plague…" Younger Ivan watched his sister carefully, her eyes wide and manic, "She only cared to live with me, no matter what the costs were."

The monstrous fish's shadow was circling around a slightly smaller being, hunting it down and wrapping thin, slimy tentacles around its prey. "Natalia took her psychosis and malice for kindness and sincerity."

"She should have been knowing," Ivan looked up to see those goldfish and koi, swimming, swimming, swimming peacefully, "That neither of us were worthy or capable of pity."

* * *

><p>Suigetsu struggled to clamber away from the scenes flashing in front of him, clutching his broken sword in his trembling hands. "The time of the ship's departure was imminent; everyone was clamoring that I be sacrificed. When we were finally pressed up against the wall, my sister stated:"<p>

"I will board this wretched sea-coffin in your place big brother."

* * *

><p>"What?" Kurenai whispered, that perfumed wind flew up from around Ivan, the Prince stating,<p>

"Of course, even if I hated her, I could not allow her to do such a thing!"

On the floor, the monster-fish's shadow had finally devoured its prey: a pitiful cry ripping through the air. "After the preparations were completed, Natalia spoke to me again."

"If we cannot be married in _this_ world, Big Brother," Natalia's ghostly visage hissed from behind The Fruit-Merchant as he held out his sword, "Then we shall go to the afterlife and be married there!

_NOT EVEN GODS OR DEMONS SHALL STOP US!_"

* * *

><p>"I dream of you every night and day, big brother…" Natalia smiled, hugging her brother close to her body, "If it is the only way we can be together, then I will surely set forth in this damned sea-coffin."<p>

"Geez, what a freak!" Kurenai whispered, Ivan continued,

* * *

><p>"I could not believe it!" Ivan's younger self had been <em>so<em> tired. Tears dripped from his eyes as he held his sister close, just _tired_ of fighting, "Why had the gods presented me with such an easy way out of this?"

Natalia sat on top of the sea-coffin, pedaling her feet in the air: her pure, white wedding dress fluttering in the breeze. "After she said her piece, she wanted us to enter the sea-coffin together." Ivan's voice echoed across the wind, "There was no way in hell I would be doing such a thing. I left my kingdom with my clothes and gems in hand and fled."

Ivan covered himself in a simple wool shroud and ran from the prison his home had become with all he could carry. "In my mind, way in the recesses, a part of me promised her and Katyusha that we would be together again soon… Yet…"

* * *

><p>The sea-coffin's lid slowly rolled to a close, "I did not even consider taking my own life. I ran to the city, set up a small house, and was even able to hire a few servants…"<p>

Toris flinched as he remembered how happy he was to have been hired by Ivan in the first place. "But for twenty years, Natalia continued to plague my mind; my very _soul_!"

"So Natalia rode the seas aboard the sea-coffin…" Jiraiya stated, "And became a demon after twenty years of travel."

"That poor, sick girl!" Kurenai screamed, trembling in rage. As all the scales stood around them, the area was silent after Kurenai's outburst.

"Wrong." The Fruit-Merchant stated, slowly standing to his feet. Kurenai looked up at him, a koi swimming around her head,

"What is?" The Fruit-Merchant's hand clenched around the hilt of his blade.

"It was not Ms. Natalia's rage and obsession that brought forth the demons on this sea." The bluenette sighed, "That's not this being's Truth."

On the floor, the purple-eyed beast's shadow swam towards the center of the room, all of the scales in the room following it.

"Ivan?" The Fruit-Merchant spoke silently, "That eye you're hiding…" Everyone gasped as they looked at the prince in front of them, "What happened to it?"

Ivan choked back a scream as he covered his right eye, crimson pouring down his face.

* * *

><p>Out on deck, Suigetsu looked up to the sky when it groaned again: the purple eye above still chained to the sea-coffin. "It has been watching us all this time…" The Fruit-Merchant's voice explained.<p>

* * *

><p>"What are you <em>talking <em>about?" Toris screamed, "His majesty's eye is right… It's right there!"

"You feared Natalia's wrath," The Fruit-Merchant went on, "You feared what Katyusha must have been thinking in the afterlife, you even feared your own soul."

* * *

><p>Outside, in the black sky, the purple and green eye faded to a more lavender color: still watching the ship it was chained to. The Fruit-Merchant spoke again, "Fear gave rise to fear, and they soon became a shadow, dark beyond human understanding." As the cream-haired noble collapsed and began to writhe on the ground, painfully clutching at his eye, The Fruit-Merchant raised his sword, "It separated from you and wandered the seas.<p>

* * *

><p>"Your majesty!" Toris cried.<p>

The Fruit-Merchant's sword purred.

"The truth is…" The Fruit-Merchant stated, the room shifting from the water-filled compass room to the colorful lobby; The Fruit-Merchant and Ivan being the only inhabitants. "_You_ are your own worst fear Ivan."

"_Nyet!_" The prince roared, standing and clutching at his head as he felt it would split in two. "This cannot be! _This_ is what I've been running away from for the past _twenty years_?"

"_Big brother…"_

"_Vanya…" _

"_Your majesty…"_

"_MONSTER!"_

"But where-!" Ivan choked as a thick, viscous mass of red and sickly pink began crawling forth from his right eye-socket, "Where is Natalia?"

The Fruit-Merchant, who had been slowly moving around the lobby, making sure they had enough space, replied, "She didn't become the monster that you thought she was. She became one with the sea after willingly sacrificing herself for her love." The bandage-covered, gem-encrusted sword was tossed up in the air, The Fruit-Merchant going on, "This sea-spirit is a part of you: the past you've wanted to abandon and destroy."

More and more of the garbled, inhumane screams of Ivan's past filled the air as the sticky, sickly mass of flesh tried to free itself from its prison. But, abruptly, it was pulled back in: Ivan standing as still as a statue.

The Fruit-Merchant looked at the poor soul and said one word. "Separate."

Immediately, half of Ivan's body melted down into a foul-smelling shadow. It grew and grew until it's pitch-black form had taken that of the monster-fish that had been scouring the compass room floor.

* * *

><p>Outside, Ivan's right eye was glaring intensely at the ship.<p>

* * *

><p>"Prince Ivan," The Fruit-Merchant began, Ivan struggling to turn his remaining half of his head to the bluenette, "Let me ask you… To kill this demon means to kill your very soul. All of those feelings and fears, all the elements that caused you to split your heart and soul in two: those which you have denied… They would return in full-force."<p>

The remains of Ivan's body fell to the floor, more shadows of large, frightening fish crawling along the walls of the lobby, "I ask you," The Fruit-Merchant spoke up amongst all the screams and howls, "Do you still want this?"

The Fruit-Merchant's sword was purring and trembling, waiting for someone to make a move as Ivan's remains screamed on the floor.

* * *

><p>"Big… brother…" Natalia turned to see Ivan walking towards the sea-coffin. Her eyes went wide in glee, a bit of drool dripping from her mouth as she limped over.<p>

'_I'm not staying here.'_ Ivan thought as his sister continued to speak,

"I've been…" Her voice was interrupted by a vicious, hacking cough that actually sent some off-colored bile to the ground, "I have been waiting for you. I want… to take your place in this sea-coffin…"

'_Whatever you decide, decide it for yourself and leave me alone!'_ A wide smile grew on Ivan's face, _'Wait, did she say what I think she just said?'_

"If it is the only way… I can become one with you…" Natalia's steps were uncoordinated, she even tripped over herself a few times as she tried to dizzily move closer to her brother.

'_This is perfect! I shall be killing two birds with one stone with this idiotic plot!'_

"Please…" Natalia wheezed, her mouth still drooling spit and bile, "Please to be promising me one thing…"

'_Silly girl, this kingdom is so poor; I hope you are not asking for money…'_

"Just…" Ivan stood unflinching as Natalia's tears and drool seeped through his clothes, "Just tell me you love me…"

"Get off of me…" Ivan frowned.

"Tell me you _love_ me!"

"Get away!" Ivan shoved his sister away, rushing away from the shore and ignoring his sisters shrieks and cries for him.

* * *

><p>"I remember now…" Ivan's remains whispered, "Natalia had always been a sickly girl. But when Katyusha died, she fell apart. Our attendants tried all sorts of treatments and remedies, but they just proved to make things worse. Her health deteriorated… and her mind rotted away. However, through all of that, the one thing that seemed to grow and prosper… was her love for me…" He sighed, "Again and again she confessed her love for me…" His one good eye looked outside to see the barnacle-covered sea-coffin, "But I could not create anything but hate for her."<p>

As tears dripped down from his eye, he choked back sobs of, "I am nothing but a stupid monster… Ignorant to even the power of love. It took me too long to realize it…"

Finally, he looked to The Fruit-Merchant and stated, "I beg of you. Please help me."

"Understood." The Fruit-Merchant nodded, stabbing his sword into the floor as it screamed,

"Release me! Now!"

After the command had been given, The Fruit-Merchant's alter ego appeared, _his _blue hair wildly blowing through the wind. The Fruit-Merchant vanished as Hoshigaki Kisame went into action, grabbing his sword just as the sea-spirit's many tentacles surged towards him.

He quickly sliced through the majority of them, rotten fish-chum raining to the ground. The monstrous-fish's shadow glared at Kisame just as he glared back at it.

The Fruit-Merchant handed Kisame a mirror, the wild bluenette crushing it in his hands as if it were nothing. A larger mirror appeared in front of him from the action and he hit his blade against it. The sword's voice screamed, "I AM FREE!" Before all of the bandages rapidly unraveled from it, revealing the shining blue steel underneath. Kisame turned once, twice, thrice, before he hurled the sword into the monstrous-fish's eye: the organ cracking like glass before he jumped over and used his weight and power to slice down.

* * *

><p>There was a brief glimpse of the beast's true form: a hideous overgrown tumor of spewing flesh and jagged teeth.<p>

* * *

><p>Kisame whipped his blade through the shadow once more, empty crab shells and more fish-chum spraying forth into the lobby as the warped screams and cries of Katyusha and Natalia echoed in the air.<p>

* * *

><p>The eye above the ship gave one final groan before the golden chains snapped apart, the monstrous organ finally drifting shut as the sea-coffin sank back beneath the bloody pond waters.<p>

As the sea-coffin sank outside, inside the lobby two feminine shadows: one with short hair and one with long hair, slowly drifted down besides Ivan's remains.

"_Big brother." _

"_Vanya." _

"_It is over."_

Outside, the sun finally rose upon a clear, calm, blue sea.

* * *

><p>A harsh gasp echoed in a small space, lavender eyes opening up to see nothing but darkness and skin feeling cold water beneath him. "Easy Mr. Braginski…" A man's voice spoke from outside, "The treatment is over but I need you to relax as I shut the system down and get your body back to normal."<p>

* * *

><p>"Now…" A tall, Russian man with short, cream hair lay on a medical bed in a hospital-room as he tried to catch his breath from the experience he had just had. Across from him, a man with wild blue hair dressed in medical scrubs was speaking; a nameplate that read 'Dr. Hoshigaki' on his chest, "Do you have an idea of why your ancestors were causing you and your partner to suffer now Mr. Braginski?"<p>

"Comrade, just call me Ivan," Ivan sighed, rubbing his eyes. "You need not be so formal with me." Kisame smiled before picking up a book and taking a few notes,

"So, what did you think of the F.F. system? I told you over the phone that it would be like nothing you've ever seen before."

"You never said it would be so potentially traumatizing my friend." Ivan sighed, sitting up. "But I will admit that it is amazing: a perfect combination of medicine and fiction. Time travel and paranormal studies used to help people with modern issues…" He then shook his head, "So my ancestor, Ivan the Great… Now that I know these things, do you think that their spirits will be at peace? At least enough so that Alfred can take a shower without Natalia's ghost trying to strangle him?" Kisame finished taking his notes before he stood and began,

"They should. Then again, no science is exact. I had a couple in here a few days ago who were wondering why they couldn't conceive a child. It had turned out that one of their ancestors had an undying hatred of the other's family. I am not sure that even a cycle inside the F.F. system helped them, they haven't contacted me or returned my calls."

"I see…" Ivan nodded. He stood and went to grab his coat, "Well, I thank you for trying to help me. Oh, by the way," He looked straight at Kisame and continued, "When will you be attempting to find him again?"

Kisame was quiet before he remembered that flash of dark hair and pale skin he had had during Ivan's procedure.

"I'll probably try an individual session again next month. So, you'll be able to help monitor while I go under?"

"But of course my friend!" Ivan smiled before walking out of the door with another farewell.

* * *

><p>"Shit…" Kisame had stayed in the hospital late that night, recording all of the raw data from that day's procedure which he had lovingly labeled 'Sea Coffin'. But, while he had been analyzing all of the data and footage from the F.F., or Foreign Fruit, System, he had tumbled onto a disturbing discovery.<p>

It appeared that, after Ivan's session had ended, the young swordsman Suigetsu was still sitting by the pond of blood. "What are you doing there?" Kisame asked, wondering if he should chance going into the F.F. system without anyone to supervise him.

Suigetsu just sat there, staring at his broken sword on the ground. Finally, he stated, "Thank you for everything…" His voice sounding unusually light and feminine.

"The hell?" Kisame frowned, calibrating the system camera so he could get a better look at Suigetsu. But the young swordsman turned…

Revealing the face of Katyusha rather than the distraught swordsman. "Thank you for everything." She smiled.

Then the system screen went dark.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So, did I give you guys enough of a WTF moment yet? Well, this is just a glimpse of how I'm making this fanfic different from the original anime 'Mononoke'. More elements of what Kisame does in this 'hospital' and the inner-workings of the Foreign Fruit system will be revealed… **

**Next time! Thanks for reading! Please review! **

**-Tyranno's girl. **


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